Building Walls So High
by tumblrpeasant
Summary: It's a fling. It's a critical move in a chess game. It's unknown. It's forgotten. It's not serious. But it's skinny love. And love is love, whether you're going to accept it or not. RoarkxGardenia, with some RoarkxOC and VolknerxCandice.
1. Chapter 1

"Turtwig, use tackle!"

"Cranidos, dodge and use headbutt!"

Roark concentrated on the battle; eyes squinted intensely behind black-rimmed glasses. Even though this kid was new, he was skilled and had great strategy. Reminded of the time when he was young with his Cranidos, Roark was letting the kid win. Again.

Byron complained that he couldn't keep letting the new youngsters constantly win. However, Roark reminded him that it had only been two months since he had been appointed Oreburgh City gym leader, proudly a trainer to stand by his faithful rock pokemon, and that he needed some "time" to warm up to the position.

In summary, Byron thought his son was short of gym leader material. Typical daddy problems for the rock-type enthusiast once again.

"Turtwig absorb and quickly!" The frail little girl screamed at the top of her lungs after Cranidos easily headbutted the turtle pokemon out of the way. Roark thought of another way to allow the girl to win, but not too noticeably.

"Cranidos, try in again for one more headbutt!" He finally ordered.

As the tiny turtwig sapped out the remnants of Cranidos' HP, Roark reached into his pocket to select one of the many coal badges to give to the girl, Annie.

"Cranidos, I'm sorry, bro! Back into the pokeball you go!" He said, retrieving a worn-out dinosaur pokemon from the battlefield.

"Hey, good job, kid. You're worthy of receiving this little baby." Roark grinned, strolling over to Annie, and handed him a brand-spanking-new, shiny coal gym badge. Annie's eyes lightened, happiness obviously overwhelming her.

"Wow! Thanks, Mr. Roark! You were tough too!" Annie cheered, shuffling her feet into a thrilled happy dance, her fingers waggling in the air, "Who's the next gym leader my team and I are going to face?"

At the reference of Gardenia, Roark's good friend for many years, he chuckled.

"Gardenia, of Eterna City. She specializes in grass type pokemon, and just between you and me, bring out your Starly to battle her." Roark winked and dismissed the Annie.

* * *

"Cherubi! Use growth consecutively, and hit 'em with a razor leaf!" Gardenia shrieked as the kid's Chimchar scratched and mach punched her little cherry pokemon repeatedly.

It was another voice-wearing-out day at the Eterna City gym for Gardenia, as her voice began to crackle from barking out orders to her pokemon. Cherubi was her last resort as the boy, Andrew's, Chimchar was winning over her due to type advantage.

"Chimchar! One final ember and you're done!" Andrew shouted.

"Chim-Charrrr!" Little embers of flames showered cherubi, which soon fainted while putting up a good fight. Gardenia's face instantly changed from confident to terribly worried.

"Oh no, Cherubi!" Gardenia rushed over to the exhausted pokemon and quickly withdrew it back into a pokeball. She scurried over to a beaming Andrew.

"Wow. I did not expect that battle to be so… close. You were very strong and your pokemon were so loyal and obedient! Take this." Gardenia gladly handed out a shiny forest badge to Andrew, while grinning.

"Yes! I finally got my first gym badge! Thanks, Miss. Gardenia! Who am I going to cream next time?" Andrew asked triumphantly and punched the air.

"Roark, of Oreburgh city, but your Chimchar will have a tough time "creaming" him. But just between you and me… catch a Machop in Oreburgh Mine after he demonstrates that amazing rock smash with his bare hands, flexing his muscles as-" Gardenia realized she was rambling about Roark, her crush for many years, once again to an innocent little youngster with an innocent little mind.

"Okay… Well, thanks anyways Miss. Gardenia! See you 'round!" Andrew waved, looking at Gardenia like she sprouted a flower on top of her head, and bolted out of the gym in a flash.

* * *

"Roark! Get the hell off your couch and come greet your best girlfriend!" Gardenia yelled, pissed off about waiting for twenty minutes for him, while pounding his front door furiously.

No response.

"I flew with a freaking Staravia just so we can go to Veilstone with everyone!" Gardenia screamed angrily, giving the suffering wooden door another blow. Roark knew her hatred for flying pokemon, as it was her grass type pokemons' weakness.

Finally, she heard a string of frustrated curses and the door was swung open.

"The fuck was that all about? You were screeching like a dying Bidoof and murdering my door like a Machop!" Roark attempted to mumble through his toothpaste-full mouth.

"Shut up, rockhead. It's your own fault. Try being more considerate next time… Holy shit. You're not wearing glasses!" Gardenia's mouth formed a perfect 'o' at the sight of Roark's warm, chocolate-colored eyes without the frames around them.

"Eh, my eyes are that bad without them. My dad keeps complaining about how I don't have a girlfriend at age nineteen because he had me at that age so I thought I'd hook up with someone tonight." He smirked and Gardenia's heart sunk for a second, but she covered it up with a teasing smirk back.

"Aw! Roarky-poo! You're getting a girlfriend! Hope she's not a plastic whore." Gardenia said, "Because those are the types you're always going after." She finished with an eye-roll.

"Hey, you're a whore too, walking around with a crop top and shorts all year long, even though it's like December now. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to spit this toothpaste out." Roark then proceeded to dash back into the bathroom to spit out the minty froth.

As soon as Roark came out, Gardenia grabbed him by the wrist and marched him over to the Staravia she reluctantly used for transportation.

"You got a flyer? 'Cause if you don't, we better just ditch our partying tonight. Candice, Volkner, Flint, and Cynthia are probably already there." Gardenia sighed, knowing Roark too thought flying pokemon were stupid.

"Of course, I've got my Aaerodactyl!" Roark chuckled and sent out his majestic, prehistoric flyer out via pokeball.

"Sweet, but he looks like a carnivore." Gardenia snickered before hopping onto her Staravia.

"You think every non-grass type pokemon with sharp teeth is a carnivore, Gards."

The two took off from the city of energy and flew side by side. Gardenia's shoulder-length brown locks came to life in the wind. Roark's eyes momentarily locked onto the sight of his best friend's beauty, but he soon shook his head and laughed at whatever she was trying to tell him.

"Hello? Did you even hear what I was saying?" Gardenia demanded angrily, obviously frustrated with Roark's distracted response.

"Wha- What? Sorry, must have m-misheard you." He sputtered out quietly, "Say it again?"

"I said, did you remember to bring cash?"

"Of course I did! We're going to the casinos!" Roark responded matter-of-factly.

Gardenia felt a rush of lovey dovey goo erupt in her at the sight of Roark's handsome smirk. She had a massive crush on him for a very long time, but she knew he didn't return the feeling. No one would ever fall for earthy, tomboy, loud mouth, trash talker, immature Gardenia Rosewood. She was one of the guys. Not a miniskirt shopper, makeup lover, girly, romance know-it-all like Candice. Nor was she a dark, flirty, sexy type like Cynthia. She wasn't even a perky, foreigner with a cute accent like Fantina. Gardenia Rosewood was one of the guys. And she thought- knew -she would always be.

Eventually, the pair arrived at the bright city of Veilstone. Flashing lights accompanied towering skyscrapers. Vendors scoured the streets selling various accessories, treats, and of course, drugs. Clusters of partying girls stood in short dresses. Guys flocked towards those clusters firing out cheesy pick-up lines. Even in winter, the streets were crowded. Yes, this was Veilstone.

This was where the party was at.

"Yup, I can smell the alcohol and desperate high schoolers trying to get laid." Gardenia joked, nudging Roark.

"Yup, and I can see all these possible dates I could go on to get my father to shut up about my obsession with the underground." He replied in a flat voice, his tone causing his best friends to double up into laughter.

The two chuckled together, eyes sparkling. Gardenia's with the love she had been holding back for years, and Roark's with simply just friend admiration. For now, at least. Fate had a different course planned out for the pair.

They soon arrived at the Veilstone Game Corner, "game corner" being the nice term for casino/club/bar, after dodging taxis, stumbling, drunk gamblers, and just plain weirdos. Upon entering the casino, they were engulfed into a hug by a familiar black-haired girl in furry boots, a blue mini skirt, and a fancy lacy blouse.

"Roarky-poo! Gardsy! I've missed you so much!" Candice Evergreen, leader of Snowpoint City gym and an ice-type enthusiast, squealed as she hugged (or in Gardenia and Roark's words, attempted to suffocate) two of her best friends.

"Slush brain! Nice to see you too, but if you haven't noticed us humans do need air." Roark gasped out, wriggling out of Candice's tight grasp.

"Oops, sorry."

"Yo, dudes! How's it going?" A cocky, charming voice called from a few meters away.

"Fro-bro! What's up?" Roark greeted as he and Flint, member of the Elite Four and fire-type specialist, did their complicated "bro handshake".

"Nothing but chandeliers dangling from the ceiling, Roark. How many times do I have to remind you that you have eyes?" Smug Volkner joked as he and Roark did a "super tough guy man hug".

"Gardenia! What a surprise! How has it been?" Cynthia, wearing a strapless pink dress with a navy bow, walked over to Gardenia doing the opposite of "super tough guy man hug" a "girly, feminine girl hug".

"Great! The whole gang's together! So, who's ready to partayyyyyy?" Flint announced excitedly, him being most likely to end up naked in a random person's bed, get wasted first, and to lose the most in the slot machines.

Of course, everyone was.

* * *

"Go, Roarky! Go, Roarky! Go, Roarky! Woooo!" Candice drunkenly slurred as she practically breathed down Roark's neck as he played a slot machine.

"Fuck yes! Oh, fuck yes! Four sevens in a row, baby! Where's those coins… Dammit, that's just two sevens with two whatever those purple things are." Roark fell out of the chair and collapsed to the floor laughing.

Two hours later into the party, the whole crew was already drunk. Candice and Roark were hamming it up at the slot machines, Gardenia was on her third or fourth round of shots, Volkner disappeared into the bathrooms with some random girl, and Flint and Cynthia were dancing drunkenly together.

Roark soon barely contained himself and stumbled over to Gardenia. His maroon hair sloppily messed up after fooling around with Candice and eyes glassy with the magic of alcohol.

"Hey, Gards. I need one of those s-s-shots." Roark fell on top of a bar stool and stole the shot out of her hands, "You look r-really nice today. Maybe even hot. Haha, whatever. Oh, I love partying, don't you?

"Dude, you are wasted as fuck." Gardenia stated sternly, not that she didn't enjoy him calling her hot, even though he did look like a mess.

"No, no. I'm barely getting started. Come on, baby, let's get out of here."

"Wasted."

"You need to be, too. Dude, get this lady some beer… Ahahah."

"Roark, I really think you need to go before you rape someone's Lopunny."

"Haha, I use rock types. Normal types suck, ahaha. Gards, I think I love you."

"You don't, shut up."

The argument with a hilarious, drunk Roark carried on, Gardenia drowning bottle after bottle of beer. Soon enough, the argument became a silly drunk skirmish. It was laughable even, on how stupid they sounded. Wasted comment after stupid, wasted comment followed endlessly.

"Hey, hottie, are you going to use harden on your Onix. Ahahaha!" Gardenia shrieked with laughter at her cheesy, dirty pick-up line.

"Ah, babe, I don't even need to. It's already rock hard!" Roark laughed and they both doubled up into hysterical laughter, "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Lead the way, Romeo." Gardenia giggled.

As the couple stumbled out of the casino with blurred vision with great difficulty, Candice grinned at the sight. Finally, it was happening, The rock-head and ivy-brain were going to get together. Drunk, sober, it didn't matter. Candice thought they were just a damn adorable couple, who argued too much and called each other stupid nicknames.

"Been waiting for this moment?" Volkner murmured, sneaking up on the ice enthusiast and taking her aback.

"Oh! Fuck you, you scared me! And yes, aren't they just damn adorable?" Candice sighed dreamily.

"You talk more about other's love life more than yours." Volkner muttered before walking away back to the brunette he found.

* * *

They stumbled into a luxe hotel room, lips craving each other, tongues battling an intense tango. Her hands wove into his hair. His hands roaming uncharted territory.

They collapsed on the bed, passion eating all the common sense that the alcohol had already previously consumed. One of his hands located her ass, laying casually over it while the other gripped her waist like a do or die situation. Her hands seemed like they were trying to weave something out of his hair. His hands slipped underneath her infamous crop top, callused fingers rubbing over the smooth, creamy skin. Her hands mimicked his, feeling the hard, defined muscles of his abdomen, all from training endlessly and working in the mines.

She was almost never boy crazy, unless it came to him. He was always girl crazy, unless it came to her. She was dreaming of this ever since they became friends. He never even thought about it.

It was a sob story for Gardenia Rosewood, and it was a preposterous situation for Roark Tanner.

She was in love with him. He only thought of her as the best friend, the one he could spill his heart out to.

What happened that night was like a critical move in a chess game.


	2. Chapter 2

It was painful, to say the least.

Gardenia rolled over onto her stomach, chin hitting a bare arm. Concerned, she sat up straight, head aching terribly to say the least. Her eyes glazed over the white sheets and red duvet of an unfamiliar hotel room, and as her eyes darted to a shaggy head of very familiar maroon hair, she jumped, slamming her hand against the white wooden head board.

Roark Tanner was shirtless, maybe even naked, in bed with her.

She couldn't have. She couldn't possibly have. She and Roark had gotten drunk together countless of times before, but he always had a brink of common sense left to avoid sleeping with her. Gardenia glanced down at her bare body and imagined strangling herself for a moment.

"_Stupid, you probably weren't even drunk and let him sleep with you wasted. Slut." _That ruthless voice in Gardenia's brain echoed. _"Slut… Slut… Slut…"_

"No. I was wasted too. This is an honest mistake; things will go back to normal." She quietly reassured herself, taking deep yoga breaths.

In and out.

In… Out…

In.

Out.

"What the… Where the hell am I? Fuck, my head hurts… Candice? Flint? Volk? Cynthia?" Roark's exhausted brown eyes fell on Gardenia, who immediately covered herself with the blanket, "Gards? What happened?"

"Well, this is just a theory. Just a theory, but I think that we both got so wasted we slept together." Gardenia answered, and then bit her lip, preparing herself for the rock trainer's angry outburst.

"Okay, I guess. I mean, this has never happened to me before… well, of course I've hooked up, but you know, not with, like, you…" Roark mumbled. He felt his cheeks turn a bright shade of Cherubi red before scooping up his clothes and darting into the bathroom.

There, Gardenia sat covered in the white sheets feeling incredibly stupid and relieved at the same time. Roark basically just said he didn't really want to wake up in the morning and see her next to him. Gardenia drew the depressing conclusion and looked at the ceiling to fight back the tears. It was the truth. The man she had been falling deeper and deeper in love with thought of her no more as a friend.

This truly was the winter of "just being friends".

* * *

Roark ran a frustrated hand through his maroon colored hair as he unlocked his front door the following afternoon. He was livid about what he had done to his best friend, Gardenia. Sure, he'd expected to get wasted and end up passed out on the floor or in a random chick's bed, but _not_ with Gardenia. All this time, he had been chasing down any guy who laid a finger on her, protecting her from the dangers of players, when really; he fucked her all night long yesterday, doing the opposite.

"Dad? Crasher Wake? What a, er, pleasant surprise?" Roark said, double-checking his pockets to see if he had anything… inappropriate from Veilstone yesterday.

"Roarky! I haven't seen you in a whole week! How's the gym coming along?" Byron greeted him in his usual jolly tone, "Anyways, as you heard, Wakey is traveling to Hoenn to learn more about water pokemon…"

Roark nodded, suddenly noticing a stunning blonde girl emerge from upstairs. She wore a pair of dark skinny jeans, a white ruffled tank top, and a pair of high-heeled wedges. Roark dismissed his father's speech and proceeded to staring at the mysterious girl. She noticed him, grinned, and gave a sultry wink.

If this was Crasher Wake's daughter who would be living with him for a while, Roark decided the next few months would be heaven

"Roarky? Roarky? Oh, I see you've noticed Hazelle. Hazelle, this is Roark, my son. He was appointed gym leader of Oreburgh only two months ago. So, you two will be in the, shall we say, same boat. Roark, you will show her the ropes, and introduce you to all your… young and rad friends," Roark grimaced as his father just said "rad".

"So, is she your daughter or something?" Roark asked Crasher Wake.

"Oh no no. She's just a really good trainer from Pastoria who I thought would be great as my substitute. However, she doesn't specialize in water." Crasher Wake explained.

"Hey, I'm Roark. Roark Tanner, I'm Byron's son." Roark stuck his hand out for Hazelle to shake. She twirled a wavy strand around her finger and shook his hand, giggling.

"Hazelle James. Nice to meet you." Hazelle smiled as Roark's hand grew clammy and he turned red.

"Well, I must take Wake to the seaport, since he refuses to travel via air. Roark, I expect you to be friendly with Hazelle, no funny business." Byron warned, giving Roark that knowing, stern daddy look.

"Yes, dad. You can leave now this is my house." Roark drawled as Hazelle stifled back a laugh.

"She's not living with you, by the way. You're just her- ok, I guess I'm leaving now." Byron finally heaved himself and Crasher Wake out the door, much to Roark's relief.

"So, you don't like water pokemon? That's strange, you being from Pastoria and all…" Roark said awkwardly, the two taking a seat on the couch.

"Oh, I do love water pokemon. It's just not all my pokemon are water type. I specialize in kind of… girly pokemon. You know… like Milotic and Roserade." Hazelle answered, also blushing furiously.

"Oh. My pokemon are far from beautiful. I like rock pokemon, they have good defenses and are overall really tough, I guess…" Roark trailed off, his plan to charm Hazelle into going out with him was not working, to say the least.

"Want to go do something fun? I'll call up my friends and introduce you to them? You and Candice will probably bond the most." Roark suggested, eyes brightening up.

"Sure, why not? Even though I don't live in a remote place, I don't often go out exploring and challenging gym leaders." Hazelle grinned, brushing a glistening strand of blonde hair out of her face.

"You'll love them, I promise." Roark winked before dialing up Gardenia's number, despite the fact that he had woken up in bed with her this morning.

* * *

Meanwhile in Eterna City, Gardenia was tending to her garden, her Cherubi and Roserade at her side faithfully. The roses looked beautiful so far, so beautiful that Roserade plucked one out and stuck it into her hair of petals. Gardenia chuckled and sent the two pokemon to play with Turtwig.

Suddenly, she heard the phone inside her house blast its usual, digital ringtone. She hurried inside, wondering who it might be, all thoughts of the chance it may be Roark pushed aside.

"Hey, Gards!" That unusually happy, hyper voice surprised her through the telephone. It was Roark, strange how he was acting so… normal after the morning.

"H-Hi, Roark… What's up?" She replied, faking a smile event though he wasn't really in the room right now.

"Not much, except Crasher Wake is going to be out of town so he left the gym to this new girl named Hazelle. She's really nice, you'd like her." Roark said a tone of dreaminess weaving its way through his words. Gardenia clenched her teeth. Yay, another blonde Barbie he would go crazy over.

"Oh, that's lovely." She said dryly.

"Yeah, so we can all meet at my house. I'm telling Volkner and Candice, too. Flint and Cynthia are probably busy with some complicated Elite stuff, you know? Better be there, tree trunk thighs!" Roark joked. Gardenia could picture his smile, his smirk, his hands running through his shaggy hair, and of course, that blonde slut probably running her fingers over him by now.

No. She would not lose. Not again. This year was the year Gardenia Rosewood vowed she wouldn't lose to another typical, fashion-loving, makeup-loving, low-carb-diet, Sinnoh blonde. She was going to make Roark Tanner hers.

"I'll be there." She finally answered, tone monotonous.

"Great! It'll be so fun, you and Hazelle will get along well. See you!" Roark assumed. Oh really, Gardenia thought, eyes glaring at an imaginary Hazelle.

"Wait, Roark, you aren't mad about… what we did, right?" Gardenia cautiously asked, the thought of this morning unexpectedly popping into her mind.

"Of course not. It was a mistake and we were drunk. No problem." He replied and hung up.


	3. Chapter 3

"Gards! You're here! I thought you ditched us, Candice and Volk are already here." Roark greeted Gardenia happily at the threshold.

Gardenia noticed a gorgeous blonde girl with a perfect outfit, perfect, thin body, and probably a perfect fake personality too. The grass trainer had plenty of experience with bitchy, pretty girls, as there was one who worked for her at the gym. She knew that the best thing to do was to pretend to be intrigued with everything they say and don't go after the guy they're chasing after. Unfortunately for Hazelle, Gardenia wasn't going to roll that way now.

"Hi! You must be Gardenia. I'm Hazelle, temporary leader of Pastoria City Gym. It's so nice to meet you. They've told me that you're awesome!" Hazelle squealed and immediately rushed to engulf her in a hug. Gardenia froze, grimaced in her head, and gingerly returned the hug.

"Yeah, I'm sure we're going to get along just fine." Gardenia replied sweetly, her tone rivaling the hot chocolate at the Veilstone Café.

Roark cleared his throat, causing Hazelle to finally stop squeezing the life out of Gardenia. Hazelle finally let go, radiating the room again with her pearl-white smile.

"Yeah, so… I was thinking we could all go play with our Pokémon in my backyard." Roark announced, "I'm excited to see yours, Hazelle."

"Of course, I'm sure yours are all way tougher than mine, though. How old are you all, by the way?" Hazelle asked.

"Well, Roark and I are nineteen. Gardenia's twenty, and Volkner is twenty-one." Candice chirped up. She and Hazelle had instantly bonded, after a conversation about clothing brands.

"Great! I'm nineteen as well, we're the all the young, cool gym trainers, right?" Hazelle joked, ruffling Volkner and Roark's hair. Gardenia fumed at this, although managed to keep her face happy.

"Anyways, Hazelle, I'll show you my backyard now." Roark gently took her arm and led her out of the sliding door.

"Wow, Roark's certainly getting some with Hazelle. How much do you want to bet they'll be all over each other by next week?" Volkner smirked holding his hand out. Candice rolled her eyes and smacked down 20 poke dollars.

"I bet it will take week and a half." She guess triumphantly, her being a romance expert, she looked extremely confident, "They look so cute together!"

"You don't say…" Gardenia muttered angrily before dismissing Volkner and lashing out on Candice.

"God, she is such a slut! Who does she think she is, stealing Roark from me- I mean us? I hate it when girls like her use their beauty to their advantage. Absolutely-" Gardenia was cut off by Candice.

"Wait. You're bothered by this? You like Roark! I knew it the moment I saw you two walk out of the casino together- Oops, I shouldn't have said that." Candice gasped and covered her mouth innocently.

"You _saw_ us?! Candice… why didn't you stop us?" Gardenia groaned, placing her hands on her hips, "And no, I don't like Roark. I just… don't want him to get hurt."

"Well, sorry! I didn't think you would actually _sleep _with him! And sure. That's what they all say, now come on, bitch, let's get some Vitamin D!" Candice giggled and pulled Gardenia out of the house.

* * *

"Damn, Hazelle's pretty good at battling!" Roark whispered to Gardenia as the two and Candice were watching Hazelle basically kick Volkner's ass with her pink and brown Gastrodon, decorate cutely with a bunch of ribbons.

"Did you see? She has a Froslass, the lucky bitch." Candice said enviously, might as well just convert her to the religion of Hazelle-ism right now.

"And a Roserade, Milotic, Jolteon, and Togekiss. Oh, my gosh, she cannot get any girlier. She disgusts me." Gardenia spat, her arms crossed.

"You don't like Hazelle? Why not?" Roark questioned .

"None of your fucking beeswax, lover boy." Gardenia shot back, as Roark recoiled, looking hurt. Instantly, she regretted saying that.

"Sorry. I just… you know, she's too peppy for me. " Gardenia lied, pressing her lips together.

"Peppy? I wouldn't call her peppy, just friendly! Jeez, Gards." Roark muttered, obviously a goner for Hazelle's beauty.

Okay. Gardenia had to admit, Hazelle was beautiful and nice. She had judged wrong. Still, Gardenia hated Hazelle with a fiery passion. There was something about her that was just so… irritating. She was kind to all four of them, even though she could have easily bossed them around. Gardenia concluded that she was also that awkward type that helped others way too much. She didn't like that. She hated perfect people.

The trio watched as Gastrodon sent out another rain of mud bombs on Volkner's treasured Luxray. The poor Luxray didn't stand a chance against the foggy clouds of mud. Volkner's face was priceless. He, the toughest gym leader in Sinnoh, got his ass kicked easily by the new girl.

"Damn, she wiped out Volk's Raichu and Luxray with just her Gastrodon! And they were all two-hit KO's!" Candice cried.

"Well, she had type advantage. And Gastrodon's typing grants her immunity to electric moves." Gardenia argued back, "Plus, Volkner still has Octillery and Ambipom."

"Wow, you're just a little ball of sunshine, aren't you?" Roark snapped back at her, his tone obviously pissed. Gardenia felt a little regret of being cruel to Hazelle in front of Roark, but she was clever to not show it.

"Whatever. Have fun with her, Roark. I'm out of here." Gardenia shot back, having enough of everyone's newfound obsession over Hazelle. She stormed towards the sliding door

After Gardenia's outburst, Candice glared at Roark with her arms crossed. It was hard knowing your two best friends were completely and hopelessly in love with her, except one showed it and the other didn't have an idea yet. Of course, Candice, being the romance master she was, was already scheming up a plan.

_"Roark, you are clueless asshole." _Candice thought to herself.

"Well, she was being a bitch, wasn't she?" Roark commented out of the blue.

"You both were." The ice trainer replied back bluntly. Roark looked at her like she had escaped out of prison.

"I was not. I was defending a new friend."

"Hmm. I wonder why Gardenia hates your 'new friend' then." Candice pondered sarcastically.

Roark was utterly confused. Gardenia couldn't possibly be _mad_ at him for drunkenly sleeping with her last night. Did she _want _him to be mad at her? Or maybe she thought he purposely slept with her? Either way, an angry Gardenia was not a force to be reckoned with. He'd have to beg for her forgiveness in the morning. Roark looked away from the heated battle between Hazelle and Volkner, and proceeded to thinking of an apologizing speech to give his best female friend the following day.

The young rock trainer was yanked away from his thoughts (literally), by Candice yanking on his arm.

"Rock-head! Hazelle took out Volkner's entire team!" Candice declared as a shocked Volkner and ecstatic Hazelle retrieved their Pokémon and walked over to them.

"Holy shit, Hazelle. You are an amazing battler." Roark complimented the blonde girl as she blushed and began inspecting her red-painted nails.

"Aw, thanks. I tried hard though. Now my babies are beat up and they need a freaking poke center!" Hazelle laughed and she walked off with Roark back into his house. Volkner glanced at Candice.

"And then there were two again." He joked, causing Candice to erupt into giggles, recalling when the two of them witnessed Roark and Gardenia stumble out of the game corner together yesterday.

"Just like last night, except Roark's walking with a different girl." Candice sighed, "To be honest, he seems smitten with Hazelle, but I think he'd look much better with a more down-to-earth girl."

"You mean like Gardenia?"

"You could say that."

* * *

"Ugh! Boys are so fucking stupid!" Gardenia half-sobbed, half-screamed as she kicked her door shut after trekking from Oreburgh to Eterna once again. Her Pokémon flocked towards her, all looking concerned.

"Roser-Roserade?" Roserade was the first to speak up, once again belting out its trademark cry. If only Pokémon knew English, Gardenia thought.

"Nothing, Rosie. It's just Roark's stupidity again. Go play, you all." Gardenia dismissed her Pokémon, and they all reluctantly skipped back to the garden.

Like a typical girl, Gardenia's first instinct was to grab a jumbo tub of chocolate chip ice-cream and eat it while sobbing to two-star chick flicks. But she was not a cry baby. She was going to suck it up and deal with it. Okay, so maybe a relationship with Roark was not so likely in the near future, but she wasn't terribly ugly. Might as well score another relationship and fight fire with fire, eh?

Fire.

Gardenia picked up the phone, grinning ear to ear, and dialed.

"Yo, Gards? What's up my favorite grassy nerd?" The voice on the other end chimed.

"Hey, fire ass. Want to pretend to be a typical mainstream couple going on typical mainstream date of a movie and dinner?"

"Dude, we are not going out. But I'm all up for it if the bill's on you!"

"Perfect. See you then." Gardenia hung up the phone and smirked to herself.


	4. Chapter 4

Gardenia and Flint awkwardly sat across from each other at a fancy restaurant in Eterna City. Even though they were good friends when around other people, when it was just the two they were extremely awkward. Gardenia poked her salad around, like the lettuce leaves were playing a game of tag, and Flint was doing the same to his pasta.

"Ok, Gards. I'm sick of this. What happened? Spill it, dude." Flint finally spoke up, and leaned in, his palms propping his chin.

"No, nothing happened. I'm just tired." Gardenia lied. Flint rolled his eyes, not believing her even for a millisecond.

"Dude, you are so not tired. You're never tired. You're Gardenia Rosewood for fuck's sake!"

Gardenia bit her lip and looked at the chandelier dangling above them, using all her willpower to not cry. Of course, this would sound like she was a helpless, immature little girl. But she wasn't. She held her love for Roark back and it would always grow every year. She couldn't do this anymore. Gardenia had to get over him.

He would end up with Hazelle or someone like her. She could imagine the wedding now. She would be that depressed bridesmaid like in the movies, the ones who was always chasing after the groom. Hazelle would be the stunning wife-to-be. They would kiss after the vows, utterly and hopelessly in love with each other.

For a moment, Gardenia imagined herself in the floor-length, pearly white, lacy wedding dress. The veil would cover the back of her dark brown, shoulder-length hair. It was wrong, she had to stop this.

But she couldn't.

Stuck in the moment, she grabbed Flint's face and pulled it even further across the table, connecting their lips. She drove all the anger into it, forcing her tongue into his mouth. Gardenia never had feelings for Flint except for him being a very good friend.

"_This is wrong. I can't kiss back Gards. She belongs with Roark." _ Flint thought finally coming back to his senses. He gently pushed her shoulder back.

"Flint… I'm sorry." Gardenia recoiled and held her head in her hands, "I'm fucking hopeless."

"Gards, I know why you're upset. Now, before you flood this whole restaurant, let's get out of here." Flint said, taking her small hand and forced her to stand up. He remembered the payment and slapped down the first bill he felt in his pocket.

Even though Flint came off as careless and arrogant to some people, he hated to see his friends cry, especially if it was about another one of their friends. Roark definitely lived up to his title as "the rock", with him being so oblivious and hard-headed.

The pair walked (rather, Flint dragged a sobbing Gardenia) to Gardenia's home on the east side of Eterna City. Once they were in, he fished in Gardenia's pocket for the key, unlocked the house, and they both took a seat on the couch.

"He's blind to not like you back." Flint whispered, expecting Gardenia to smile and return to usual, happy normal self.

"You don't know do you?" She said spitefully, her eyes glancing up from under her eyelashes. Gardenia looked different now, almost… angry.

"No, I don't. Enlighten me please."

"I've loved him since the day we met. That was when we were sixteen. I was at Canalave, researching about how to make a wild Roselia kind to you. He was visiting his father…" Gardenia began. Flashes of the memory occurred in her mind.

* * *

"_These seem good enough, might as well check them out." A cheery, sixteen-year-old Gardenia Rosewood beamed as she began down the stairs of the grand Canalave library._

"_Who does he think he is… Telling me to meet him here in fucking Canalave because he misses me, but all he wants to tell me is that he's sleeping with Fantina and divorcing Mom. I can't stand him…" An angry, male, teenage voice grumbled._

_Gardenia peered sideways from her stack of books and saw an angry boy about her age storming up the library stairs. He looked awfully mad, glaring at the ground behind his black glasses. Gardenia's heart began to beat faster. She was never an expert around guys, but this one felt different. He was very cute, and sparked something in her heart._

_The boy was approaching closer to her and because of his anger, carelessly bumped into the large tower of books, sending all of them tumbling down. At last, Gardenia's face was exposed to the boy, and she blushed awkwardly._

"_Damn, sorry about that. It's just... never mind. Let me help you." He mumbled, giving her a quick grin before picking up the books around him._

"_It's alright. I, er, heard you muttering. Family problems, isn't it? Don't worry, my mom can be annoying too." Gardenia blurted out and mentally kicked herself. Now this cute guy was going to think she was a stalker!_

_Instead, he sighed, stood up and unexpectedly hugged her._

"_Sorry, I don't even know your name, but you are the first person who showed any sign of sympathy to me when I'm angry. They're always like, _'be thankful for what you have'_, but I guess us regular people can have problems too, right?" He said, smiling, "By the way, my name is Roark. Roark Tanner. I'm the gym leader, Byron's, son."_

"_Oh, um, thank you, I guess. I'm Gardenia. Gardenia Rosewood. I live in Eterna." She responded, feeling her cheeks turn a very noticeable shade of red._

"_So, um, here are your books…" Roark bent down to scoop up the stack of novels, "Would you like to hang out later this evening? We can go catch a movie or something." _

"_Sure! That would be great." Gardenia grinned happily, mentally patting herself on the back for answering truthfully instead of blabbering on and on._

"_Excuse me, but some people are actually here to borrow books!" A voice behind the two shrieked. _

_The two teenagers jumped to see an angry old lady with a Buneary in her purse. She carried a large, dark purple novel, probably some old mystery. Gardenia and Roark chuckled before going down the stairs together, a new friendship blossoming with every smile, laugh, and step._

* * *

"From that day on, I swore to myself Roark Tanner was mine. Unfortunately, throughout our friendships he's had tons of girlfriends, all which ended up with him saying, 'let's just be friends'. I don't want that to happen to me, Flint. I know I'm in love with him." Gardenia ended her tale with a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Um, I don't mean to be insensitive, but have you ever thought that maybe this may take some time?" Flint asked. Gardenia fumed, she always was a stubborn, headstrong one.

Damn, he really was bad at making people feel better.

"Do you know how it feels, Flint? To be in love with someone for three years, and know they don't love you back? Today, I found out that Roark, my best friend, took my virginity! Okay? It's a little hard to wrap around your head. He didn't even care. He just scooped up his clothes and walked straight out the door! The jerk fucking called me this afternoon to introduce me to some blonde slut he's crazy over. It's hard, Flint. I've held it in too long. This is when I snap!" Gardenia screamed ferociously, clenching her fists.

"I-I-I'm sorry. I didn't know." Flint responded shamefully.

"It's ok. I lost my temper once again." Gardenia began sending the tears down again, "Don't tell me I'm beautiful and amazing and that he is stupid for not realizing that because it's not true. Why else would he go after Hazelle?"

"It's simple, Gards. Even though I don't know Hazelle, if I didn't tell you those things, I would be lying, wouldn't I?"

Gardenia smiled sadly as Flint embraced her in a warm hug.

* * *

"Damn, I really wish I knew you people before." Hazelle grinned at Roark, Candice, and Volkner. The four of them were still at Roark's place, conversing.

"What can I say? We're amazing." Candice chuckled, swinging her legs over the two boys' laps jokingly and posing like a seductive model. Hazelle cracked up at this, spraying some soda over the coffee table.

"Bitch, you're cleaning that up." Roark joked, winking at her. Hazelle giggled, blushed, and twirled her hair (the routine she did whenever Roark spoke to her).

Obviously, the gym leaders were all very hyper from the sugary drinks. It seemed like everyone had forgotten Gardenia's outburst earlier. Of course, they haven't, and it had only seemed that way. Roark was the most worried about it, contrary to what Gardenia had said to Flint. In the meantime, the three had all bonded with Hazelle. Suddenly, the phone rang. Roark jumped up to answer it.

"Hello?" He said, pressing the phone to his ear.

"Roark, dude, you are so messed up. What's up with you sleeping with Gardenia?" The one-of-a-kind voice of Flint O'Brien "greeted" through the other end.

"Wow. Hi to you too, Flint. Um… we were drunk. That's pretty much it." Roark said, scrunching his eyebrows together in confusion. He fiddled with the drawstrings of his hoodie.

"Dude, you fucking know she was a virgin, right? She just told me about how you left her. Man, you are the worst best friend ever to her." Flint explained.

That's when Roark nearly dropped the phone.

He had no idea Gardenia was a virgin. She had always kept stuff like that private to him. He thought maybe it was because he was a guy, but he knew now. He needed to apologize immediately. Then, Roark hung up the phone without saying another word to Flint.

"You guys should go now. I have to… take care of something at the mine. One of the workers just told me." Roark lied. Thank god he was a convincing liar.

"Er, ok. That was a little sudden. Come on, Volky! Bye Roark and Hazelle!" Candice said, grabbing Volkner and enthusiastically pulling him out the door.

"Wow, Candice. I think I know your two favorite things down. Dragging people and freezing to death in Snowpoint. Bye guys!" Volkner waved, "Help me!"

"See you soon!" Hazelle chirped. Once the pair was out the door, Hazelle turned to Roark.

"Roark, um, maybe sometime this week we can… hang out, I guess? We can go catch a movie or something?" Hazelle suggested, walking over to where he was in the kitchen.

"Uh, sure. Just, don't come on Wednesday because that's when we usually have the heaviest loads at the mines. Oh, don't come on Tuesday either because I have to clean the gym. Er, you can come on… you know what, just come any day and I'll work something out." Roark stammered awkwardly.

"Sounds great." Hazelle said before running her fingers down his arm, grinning, and then leaving Roark's home without another word.

Roark was puzzled. How could any girl as gorgeous as Hazelle be interested in him? Nevertheless, he really was a lucky guy. Byron would be very pleased to hear that his son had finally (possibly) got a reasonable girlfriend that was a total package: smart, pretty, funny, and kind. The others he had were either stupid flings or lacked one of the "total package" traits.

Without a second thought, Roark headed off to Eterna City to patch up a friendship.

* * *

**Well. Hi everyone who bothered to read this story. Sorry for making this, but I really do love this pairing. Sorry for creating Hazelle if you hate her, but I absolutely despise stories that get the characters together in the first few chapters. I can assure you that this will get better, despite my failed ending of this chapter and probably many other. This was supposed to be a story similar to the movie "Friends with Benefits", but I wanted to start with a traditional skinny love story. This isn't my first fanfiction, but it's my first story published on this site. Oh and the theme song for this is "I Choose You" by Timeflies. So… please review. I really need feedback.**

**~Mia**


	5. Chapter 5

After Gardenia had sent Flint home, she began crying hysterically all over again. He wasn't too much help in cheering her up after all. Telling her all sorts of "inspirational nonsense" such as the infamous "inner beauty is what counts" did nothing to boost her self-esteem against the all-around perfect Hazelle.

'_No. You have to stop thinking of Hazelle as my competition. Roark isn't some silly trophy handed out to a winner. Even if they do get married to her, or anyone else, it will be fine. You will fall in love with someone better. Remember, they've only met today!' _The reasonable side of her conscience urged her.

'_Pshht. Don't believe that. Roark and Hazelle were flirting endlessly this afternoon. You better do something before she wins him over, honey.' _The other, more ruthless and persuasive conscience cackled as if they were a villain in a film in Gardenia's mind.

Amidst the tug-of-war between the two consciences in the grass trainer's mind, the doorbell rang unexpectedly. Expecting Flint, Gardenia hastily wiped the tears from her cheek and chin and flung the door open.

Instead, it was Roark.

"What the hell are you doing here? Did I not make it clear at your place that I was done talking to you today?" She demanded angrily, not giving in to Roark's handsome, uneasy smile.

"I know, I know, I heard." The rock trainer let himself in, kicking off his sneakers, much to Gardenia's despair, "But, Flint talked to me and said-"

"Ugh! That moron… I told him not to talk to you! He told you my secret, didn't he?" Gardenia grumbled, her heart basically turned to stone then.

She couldn't believe that Flint betrayed her and uttered her biggest secret to the one person she wanted to keep it from. Roark was here for one reason only: to tell straight to her face that she was friend-zoned and he would never have feelings for her. It made her heart shatter, break, and destroy itself in any possible way. Gardenia felt so stupid to confide in Flint. Of course he would side with Roark; he was a guy and much closer to him than she had ever been.

"He didn't tell me any secret! Besides, I'm pretty sure I already know all of yours." Roark claimed.

Gardenia softened when at the latter sentence. They both did agree that there wouldn't be any secrets between them. Never. Unfortunately, she had broken that rule the day she met him.

"Oh, don't be dumb, Rock-Head. He spilled everything, didn't he? From our fancy dinner to when I ended up crying." Gardenia wouldn't give in. She was going to make him spill everything, and then she would severely injure both him and Flint.

"No! Of course not! And I'm glad that you're making progress with your little crush. Now I feel terribly guilty that I took your virginity. He should have taken it and not ugly old me." Roark said. Gardenia was taken aback. Oh, this boy was incredibly stupid.

"What? What did you smoke today? You're crazy!" Gardenia shrieked. Did Flint tell Roark she was faking being in love with him and that she was actually in love with Fire-Ass?

"Gardenia." Roark began with a laugh, "I'm so sorry for walking out on you this morning without a shred of sympathy. I honestly had no idea you were a virgin. Now, I understand why you've never told me any of those things. It's because you love Flint, isn't it?"

Gardenia was appalled, offended, and plain frustrated. Roark was so blind and stupid, and Flint was a backstabber. She could not believe that Flint bragged to him that he thought she was in love with him _just_ because she had confided in him. Her love for Roark was real, even if she had built the wall so high. The only way to see that see that she loved him was if Gardenia had told you herself. No other guy could replace him, not Flint, Volkner, or anyone.

"Roark, I don't love him. What Flint and I discussed was awkward. However, I can tell you that whatever he told you is wrong. There's- I mean, I don't love anyone. Besides, relationships aren't for me." Gardenia lied. Instantly, she realized that the last sentence was one of the biggest lies she had ever told.

The only thing she craved was a relationship.

"Oh. Alright then. Well, anyways, I came here to apologize, so here's my apology." Roark cleared his throat, "Gardenia Rosewood, I feel like a total and utter jerk for taking your virginity and not even caring about it. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I am so sorry. I hope we can still be best friends."

"Roark, you know that I could never stay mad at you for long. I'm also sorry for snapping at you this morning. I guess I was overcome with jealousy." Gardenia's angry mind was taken over by her softness for Roark and she engulfed him in a tight, warm hug.

"Gards, I seriously love you." Roark murmured.

"I know."

Her response was dry as a cornfield, and the drought was knowledge that he didn't love her the way she loved him.

* * *

"Isn't Hazelle so awesome, Volky? We've already planned a day where we're going on an all-out shopping spree for spring! She's the only one in our whole group that knows what the difference between chiffon and silk is! Haha! She's great!" Candice bubbled as she and Volkner ate dinner at the Rock 'n' Roll restaurant in Oreburgh.

"I don't know… she seems overly perfect. No offense to Roark or anything, but he usually has to try before a girl falls for him. Hazelle, I don't know, she seems like a robot to me." Volkner admitted, his tone bland and plain. Candice frowned.

"Oh, don't tell me you're on that too! Look, Gardenia has been one of our best friends for a while now. But, that doesn't mean she needs to influence your opinion." The ice trainer said. Volkner shook his head disbelievingly.

"Whatever you say. I just think she's a little… off. To be honest, I think she might even end up breaking Roark's heart harder than Valerie did." Volkner predicted, "If they even get together."

"Right. Valerie."

**Jesus Christ. I am such a drama queen when I write. Did anyone notice that I changed the title? Is anyone wondering who Valerie is? If you're actually a loyal reader to this story, mind reviewing? I think I'm making the characters a little OOC, but in my defense, you can't really tell what the gym leaders' personalities are from a little blurb they tell you. Most people think Volkner is depressed, Candice is ditzy, Gardenia is girly, Roark is awkward, and Flint is like a cocky idiot, but I don't really agree with any of them. So… please review, favorite, and follow? Btw, what story should I create next? I'm thinking I might sprinkle some one-shots of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Hunger Games, and even THE MYSTERY ROOM! *fangasm* Ily forever. Sorry that this was such a short chapter!**

**~Mia**


	6. Chapter 6

_She's a Valerie. _

Was what snuck into Gardenia's mind during a gym battle. In had been around six days since that explosive, eventful day when she woke up naked next to Roark, met Hazelle, snapped at Roark, confided in Flint, and then sobbed with Roark about how sorry they both were.

Gardenia was still a little annoyed about everything, though. She had become used to Hazelle and even became friends with her. Also, she had decided that Flint's price for telling Roark that she was in love with the fire-trainer was the overused silent treatment, and therefore had not even confirmed anything he supposedly told Roark.

"Miss Gardenia? The gym badge, please?" The grass-trainer's opponent, a short girl with brown pigtails, asked meekly.

Gardenia mentally kicked herself for being so thoughtful today. Once again, another kid had effortlessly beaten her due to her dreamy, unfocused state. She swore that if she was actually focused today, her Roserade could have kicked that Piplup's tiny, cute blue butt hard.

"Oh, right. Well, good job today. You have earned the prized Forest Badge for your skill. Great job once again, and I do wish you luck on the rest of your journey." Gardenia said, her tone as plain as dry toast. The child's face fell, obviously wishing a more impressive comment after her victory.

"Alright then, thank you." She finally spoke and gloomily prodded away.

Now, if Gardenia had felt normal today, she would have apologized countless of times and begged for forgiveness from this random person she didn't even know. But she knew what made Hazelle so irritating to her.

She was just like Valerie.

Valerie was the thin, intelligent, and sweet, with dark, wavy hair, utterly flawless tan skin, and the overall perfect ex-girlfriend of Roark. And Hazelle was almost just like her, except with an altered blonde-haired appearance.

Sadly, Valerie was also manipulative, heartless, and cruel.

The grass-trainer shook her head to virtually clear her mind. Being the crazy, protective best friend she was, it was her duty that Roark wouldn't come out of a relationship with Hazelle battered and bruised like he did with Valerie. It made her cry as hard as Roark did. At the time, she was his comfort tool, and it only made her fall deeper in love with him.

And now, after utilizing several months to get over Valerie, Roark had already developed a considerable crush on Hazelle quickly, just like he did when he met Valerie.

If Gardenia couldn't have him, she might as well try to be a helpful best friend.

* * *

Roark tossed an empty poke ball in the air as he lay on his couch, extremely bored. His Pokémon were out in his yard, playing a hybrid of hide-and-seek and tag. It had been roughly six days since he met Hazelle, and the two were constantly texting each other. Additionally, Hazelle had turned out to be a terrific gym leader after Roark had "trained" her, beating almost all of her challengers to a pulp.

Roark felt his cellphone vibrate and immediately retrieved it from between the cracks of his couch. It was Hazelle. At the sight of Hazelle's name across his screen, he began blushing furiously.

Of course, he couldn't forget that eventful day when he woke up next to Gardenia. He wasn't going to take her bullshit about "not being in love with anyone" because clearly, she loved Flint. Why else was she so upset about him, her best friend, taking her virginity? And unexpectedly, Flint and Gardenia were not speaking to each other at all.

And for some odd reason, he had begun thinking of Gardenia very often. Nowadays, Roark was always blushing around her and always staring at her whenever she smiled or laughed. She was just so damn cute. But, he liked Hazelle, right? It would be illegal in Roark's book to fall in love with his best friend.

But what's life without a little risk and illegalness?

The text from Hazelle read, _'we can do movies now I'm all done w/ my challengers c:'_

A wide grin spread across the rock-trainer's face as he slowly texted back, _'sure. meet me my place. I can pay'_

Roark was happy that Hazelle had taken interest him in. Of course, it seemed that Byron and Wake had wanted the two to get together, as they had introduced the pair in the first place. Hazelle was extremely pretty and a very fun person to be around. He reminded him of Valerie a little, except that Valerie used her beauty to her advantages and then crushed his heart into smithereens.

A few minutes later, the doorbell echoed in Roark's house. He practically blasted off the couch and rushed to the mirror in his foyer to tame down his spiky maroon hair, then ruffled it slightly, realizing he looked much more like himself with messy hair. Roark then opened the door and smiled at the blonde in front of him.

"Hey, Hazelle," He greeted her awkwardly, gulping, "You look nice, er, sorry that was weird…"

Hazelle blushed and played with the tip of her light blue chiffon shirt. She looked up at Roark from underneath her long, curly eyelashes, causing the boy in front of her to bite his lip nervously.

"Oh, please. I'm sure I do look like a mess. Now come on, we're going to miss the 7:15 showing of _The Screech_." Hazelle grinned deviously, knowing that Roark absolutely hated horror movies. The blonde wrapped her fingers around his wrist with a look that said, _'You're not chickening out of this one, dude'_.

"Hey! I didn't agree to any stupid horror movie with fake blood and knives and… Arceus, screw it." The rock-trainer muttered as Hazelle dragged him off to her car, cackling hysterically.

"Ha. I knew you'd give in."

Roark let Hazelle drive, taking note that he was a pretty terrible driver himself and there was a high probability that he would be caught speeding. As the car whizzed by, Hazelle and Roark snuck embarrassed glances at each other. They could both carry a conversation on forever and were already great friends, but they were also developing a more-than-friends liking for each other. Summoning all his bravery and pushing away all that awkwardness, Roark crept his hand closer to the blonde's free hand resting between the two seats. Hazelle noticed, blushed and rested her hand above his, both of their hearts' speed increasing.

"Um, we're here." Hazelle said softly, reluctantly taking her hand off his. Roark studied her from behind his black-framed glasses, looking for any trace of disgust, but found none.

"Look, Hazelle I-" He began as they got out of the car, cursing all his newfound courage.

"You don't need to apologize for something I quite liked." Hazelle smiled that flawless smile, ultimately surprising the young rock-trainer in every way.

"Alright then," Roark grinned and swooped towards her, scooping her hand up in the process, "I hope you like us acting like some bullshit lovey-dovey couple even more."

"Well, maybe it doesn't have to be bullshit." She giggled resting her head on his shoulder, triggering little fireworks to go off in Roark's head. Was she serious?

He might actually have a chance with her.

Upon entering the theater, many people paused to stare at the two laughing and whispering while swinging their joined hands together back and forth. Gym leaders were always quite a celebrity around Sinnoh and the sighting of both the Oreburgh and the temporary Pastoria gym leaders acting romantically together would definitely be on the tabloids the next day. Giggling clusters of kids flocked by the pair, fawning over the idea of their idols being a couple.

"Mr. Roark? Is Ms. Hazelle your wife?" A tiny toddler timidly asked, interrupting Roark and Hazelle's conversation. The teenage babysitter holding the child's hand shook her head in embarrassment.

Roark was mentally beating himself up, while Hazelle offered a bright smile to the mortified babysitter and replied, "No. We're just friends, honey. But I don't suppose a handsome kid like you already has a girlfriend."

Hazelle affectionately ruffled the mop of curly auburn hair on the toddler. The babysitter grinned at the two gym-leaders and trotted off, the toddler laughing behind her. Roark heard Hazelle sigh and grabbed again at her hand, which he had let go after the cute midget approached them.

"It's so weird how everyone thinks we're together." Roark chuckled half-heartedly, "Isn't it possible for two gym-leaders of the opposite gender to watch a movie together on a just-friends term?"

"I know, right? But… I think that we might be more than friends." Hazelle said coolly before walking off to buy the tickets and popcorn.

Roark was left shocked yet elated and love-struck at the same time. For a moment, his mind flashed to a picture of Gardenia for some odd reason. He shook his head vigorously. Why was he thinking of Gards at a very important time?

"So, ready to go now?" Hazelle asked, suddenly standing in front of him with a pair of tickets, jumbo bucket of popcorn, and large cup of cola in her arms.

Roark smiled, taking the popcorn bucket from her, still very confused why he was suddenly thinking about Gardenia so much.

* * *

"Ah!" Hazelle and Roark shrieked in unison at the sight of a bloody zombie driving a knife through the protagonist's back ruthlessly and grabbed onto each other, triggering their bucket of popcorn to explode.

"I hate suspense and killing. It gets me every time." Hazelle whispered, burying her face in Roark's shoulder, "Tell me when it stops stabbing her."

"How am I supposed to tell you when I'm also covering my eyes?" Roark groaned as he covered his eyes with his clammy palm, sneaking peeks every five seconds or so.

"You fucking scaredy-cat. I thought guys were supposed to be tough and brave." The blonde muttered, her manicured nails digging into his bicep with every blood-curling scream.

"Well, so sorry that I hate to see people getting viciously murdered." Roark apologized sarcastically and ventured another peek, "Hey, it's over now. Now, it's just the police discovering her body."

"Oh, okay then." Hazelle squeaked and looked up. Her lips just barely brushed Roark's neck in the process, causing the rock trainer's skin's temperature to rise.

This was too much. Roark was attempting to control himself and be a nice gentleman like his father had told him to, but he wanted to just kiss Hazelle right then and there in front of the rest of the movie's audience. She was just so beautiful, and he was blinded by how sweet she appeared that he threw all the things that could go wrong with this out the metaphorical window. They had only known each other for roughly six days and for all he knew, Hazelle could just be playing with his mind. He needed someone after that disastrous relationship with Valerie.

"Hazelle, don't hate me for this." He breathed and finally crushed his lips to hers, relishing in how her incredibly soft lips tasted like watermelon and strawberries.

Surprisingly, Hazelle kissed back, also throwing out her concerns out the metaphorical window. She trailed her fingers up his arm and to his neck, which she wrapped her had around. The kiss was full of wanting and need, and it was messy and rough due to the dark lighting. The couple had forgotten that they had only been friends for a short time and channeled all the passion they could muster into the simple kiss. Who cared about real love and how wrong this was in this moment?

Hazelle was the first to pull away after noticing the credits had begun rolling. She stared into the deep brown eyes of the man in front of her, still tingling from the kiss.

'_Hazelle and Roark. Roark and Hazelle.'_ She thought in her mind, smirking to herself about how wonderful it sounded to her.

"Hazelle, I'm sorry." Roark apologized breathlessly, "I don't know what came over me."

"Roark, once again you stupid idiot, you never need to apologize for something I liked." Hazelle said, her tone bright and elated.

"Gardenia…" Roark whispered, his mind suddenly flashing back to Gardenia again. _Dammit_.

"Excuse me?" Hazelle asked attempting to coat her tone with sugar once again. She was unsure of what he said, but she was _certain _it was another girl's name and it made her blood boil.

"Nothing. I meant, your eyes… they, er, remind me of this amazing color on a crayon, it was, er, called garden green blue." Roark lied, taking note that Hazelle's eyes actually _were_ a beautiful shade of blue-green, almost like a light teal.

"Oh, that's adorable." Hazelle giggled, "Now, let's get out of this musty theater and we can continue this at your house."

"Um, ok." Roark responded awkwardly, kicking himself for once again being the awkward moron he was.

As Hazelle lead him out of the theater, Roark was trying to solve the puzzle of why he was thinking of Gardenia so often these days. He concluded that it was because he had taken her virginity and was still awfully guilty about the whole situation, but this was much more complex. Why on earth did he mutter her name after kissing Hazelle? Surely, he didn't imagine that he was kissing Gardenia, his best friend ever, after kissing Hazelle, this perfect, beautiful girl he had a crush on since they first met.

He did have to admit, however, that he preferred hazel eyes rather than blue eyes.

* * *

**Hey it's me Mia… Sorry I haven't been able to update this much, I guess it was just writer's block. You are all probably thinking that Hazelle and Roark got together way to fast, but this is all part of my plan. It's kind of a rushed relationship. SPOILER ALERT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTERS! We learn more about Valerie in the next chap as well as one of Hazelle's secrets in the next! *wink wink***


	7. Chapter 7

"So, yes, Roark and I are together." Hazelle grinned as she laced her fingers with Roark and lovingly stared into his chocolate-colored eyes.

Gardenia froze, soaking the announcement in, and imagined her lunging at the triumphant blonde in front of her and beating her to the pulp. Once again, she was fulfilling the role of the jealous best friend. Apparently, Roark and Hazelle had kissed on their movie date and were now dating. After six days of knowing that one another existed. Gardenia obviously thought that things were going at an unusually fast speed, but, nevertheless, she was extremely heartbroken. If only she was a beautiful, perfect, goddess-like girl like Hazelle.

The group, consisting of Gardenia, Candice, Volkner, Cynthia, and Flint were speechless for a second. The five friends knew that Roark's relationships after Valerie were always flings that ended up disastrously and obviously were worrying about their friend. If Roark dumped Hazelle, tension would erupt. After all, Hazelle was going to stick around as a gym leader for quite a while. Finally, someone decided to break the silence.

"Dude, nice going! If you break up, just hand her over to me!" Flint, who Gardenia was still livid at, exclaimed, winking at Roark suggestively. Roark rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around his newfound girlfriend's petite waist.

"Flint, you are possibly the most disgusting, vain, and utterly _stupid_ human being ever to stumble on this planet." Cynthia droned, shaking her head in exasperation, "It's a wonder how you ever got recruited into the Elite Four."

"Dammit, you two are killing the mood. And that's my job." Volkner said in his ever-present sarcastic voice.

"All three of you are being immature! This announcement is so totally romantic!" Candice squealed, leaning over to put a hand on Hazelle's shoulder, "And I am just letting you know, that it will be an honor, _an honor_, to be a bridesmaid at your wedding."

"What? We're already talking weddings? Have you already forgotten about how terrible Valerie was?" Gardenia snorted. The whole group whipped their heads around to stare at her angrily.

'_Ugh, should have held your tongue, Gards_." That sneering voice in the grass trainer's voice chimed.

"Valerie? What the hell, Roark? You've already been married?" Hazelle screeched, wriggling her hand out of Roark's grasp.

"Well, not exactly. There was this one relationship I was in, and it ended very ugly." Roark said quietly, his eyes staring intently at the floor, preparing to tell the tale of Valerie Connelly.

* * *

_"This must be perfect, guys. It's for Valerie, and we all know how Valerie likes things very special." Roark ordered his tone stern, yet love-struck and sing-song-y. _

_"This is so cute! I can't believe little Roarky is getting married!" Candice squealed, admiring her sign, which was the third R in 'Valerie will you marry me?' _

_Roark rushed around the banquet room, making sure everyone was holding the correct letter and was present. Sure, he had taken things a bit too fast with Valerie, but he was almost certain they were in love. The couple had only known each other for five months, and Roark was only eighteen while Valerie was twenty-one. But Roark was still persistent. He wanted this to be special because, simply put, Valerie was a special person to him._

_"She's coming!" Volkner warned everyone as he dashed into the banquet, scooping his sign up briskly. Everyone immediately ceased chattering and took their respectable places._

_"Places, please!" Roark commanded, his palms growing pink and clammy. Of course he felt scared about proposing to Valerie, what if she was just using him?_

_"Roark! Do you think my hair looks alright... What the hell is going on?" Valerie shrieked as she saw the long line of people all holding a letter._

_"Valerie, I was wondering…" The young rock-trainer gestured to the signs and kneeled down with a ring in his hand, "Would you marry me?"_

_Valerie just stood there in her expensive purple dress, staring at Roark with a mortified and shocked face. Finally, she reached her trembling hand out and snatched the ring out of its midnight-colored velvet box. Valerie yanked Roark up and kissed him hard. And for a moment, Roark actually thought she was going to say yes. But when she pulled back, her response hit Roark like a train._

_"The answer is no, Roark, absolutely not. I hope you eventually realized that I never loved you. I only went out with you for pure enjoyment. Honestly, I never thought you would actually fucking propose to me." Valerie breathed, crafting every word to sound like a rich, sweet ice-cream sundae. Because that's what she was, sweet yet sinful._

_Roark was left speechless as Valerie stormed out _

"_What the fuck, you bitch?! I knew there was something up with you from the start! You won't get away with this, you little fucking bitch!" Gardenia screamed at the top of her lungs as the crowd watched the brunette saunter away, content.  
_

* * *

"And that's the story of Valerie. I became depressed until two months ago, when my dad appointed me gym leader. After Valerie, it seemed like bad things happened to me constantly." Roark said after his memorable flashback.

"Roark, I'm sorry to hear that. But I promise I would never do that to you. But seriously, we are not getting married yet." Hazelle laughed, squeezing his hand.

'_Oh really?' Gardenia thought, '_I_ would never do that to him. Not so sure about you, Blondie.'_

"Damn, I always hated Valerie. She was one heartless lady." Flint admitted, "Not even her looks could cover up how annoying she was."

"I know," Roark responded dully, "I was stupid to think that I'd spend the rest of my life with her."

Hazelle circled her hand around Roark's hunched back comfortingly. Roark felt happy and relaxed around Hazelle, unlike when he was around Valerie. Her sweet, good girl image was a cover-up, but when the couple was alone she was vain and selfish. Even though Roark tried to tell himself that Hazelle was perfect for him, he couldn't stop thinking that Gardenia might be too.

'_No, this isn't right. She is your _best friend_,' _Roark's conscience told him sternly, _'Get that into that rock head of yours. Sure, she is pretty, but imagine how much of a mess that would cause.'_

He tuned out for a moment, muting all the thrilled conversations around him and studied the reactions from his friends. Cynthia was on the edge of the opposite couch and was beaming brightly. It was obvious to see that both she and Candice supported him and Hazelle's relationship. Flint looked happy as well, however, it was plain to see that he was jealous.

Wait, _jealous_?

Roark felt confused for a while; didn't Flint and Gards have a thing? Unless their fancy dinner date was just between friends, which he highly doubted. Roark pushed these thoughts away. Of course Flint had the right to be jealous! Hazelle was extremely pretty and also had a lovely personality without sacrificing an ounce of intelligence, and Roark had to admit, he was one lucky dude for having her like him back.

The rock trainer went back to analyzing everyone's reactions; he needed to know why dating Hazelle was like a guilty pleasure. He felt like he was doing something wrong.

Finally, it clicked.

Gardenia might be jealous of Hazelle.

Well, it did make sense. Roark had been hanging out with his new girlfriend more than Gardenia lately. Gards was probably missing their shenanigans and misadventures they pulled together. He made a note in his head to hang out with Gardenia this week... without Hazelle.

"Roark? Roark? You zoned out on me for a minute! You got me worried." Hazelle said while roughly shaking her boyfriend's body.

"Wha-What? Oh, right, you're all still here." Roark mumbled, and then remembered that he needed to have that vital talk with Gards, "Can you guys leave? I did a lot of battles today, wiped all of them out, and I need to sleep."

"Oh, of course! See you tomorrow. Candice, Cynth, we can totally go shopping now." Hazelle grinned at her girlfriends sans tomboyish Gardenia.

The blonde leaned over and connected her lips with Roark passionately. Roark did like Hazelle quite a lot, and she was an amazing kisser. But now, his cracking friendship with Gards was much more important than making out with Hazelle in front of his friends. The rock-trainer kissed back softly for a few seconds, savoring the mental fireworks that went off in his head when he kissed his girlfriend, and then pulled back. He planted a tentative kiss on her forehead before sending her off to shop.

As planned, Gardenia was the last to leave.

"Gards, we seriously need to talk." Roark said as he dragged the grass trainer back to the couch, stopping her from lacing up her combat boots and marching out the door.

"Roark, what's this all about? Don't you need some rest? You do look awfully tired, dude." Gardenia replied, covering that knowing pit of dread growing in her voice with sugar-coated words.

Gardenia's heart lurched at the serious expression in Roark's face. She had this terrible anxiety that he had found at she liked him. In her head, she imagined herself quickly building her walls even higher, so high they were impenetrable. The grass trainer dropped her shoes back onto the floor and managed to slap on a relaxed expression before she and Roark sat back down onto the couch.

"Gards, are you jealous of Hazelle?" Roark inquired her, his eyebrows knitting together. Gardenia finally exhaled a sigh of relief. But for some reason, Gardenia couldn't easily force a lie out of her mouth.

_'Gards! What are you doing? Just say something... not that you are jealous of Hazelle because she is dating your crush... just say you're jealous of her hair!' Gardenia's mind screeched out._

"W-Well, I am jealous of her hair, I-I-I guess." Gardenia finally sputtered out, making her statement sound more like a question.

"Oh, don't give me that bullshit. You're jealous of her spending more time with me than with you." Roark concluded, his eyes seeming like they were gazing into her soul. Gardenia forced her lips into a tight smile and shook her head.

"Alright fine, I guess I do miss our inside jokes and screwing up everything we run into, but I understand that you have to spend time with Hazelle, too. I'm just glad that you didn't forget about me. " Gardenia said and grinned at her best friend of three years, "I love you like as large as the ocean, best friend."

The grass trainer unexpectedly wrapped her arms around Roark, but not for the same reason Roark thought. Gardenia knew she meant the first three words in two ways: real love and friend love. But she was grateful she escaped with her secret guarded once again. She knew it wouldn't be long before her walls gave in.

"I love you as much as I might love Hazelle later, Gards. Just not in the same way."

But for some reason, the last sentence Roark spoke felt like a terrible lie slicing him through.

* * *

**Wow. I almost cried writing the end of this chapter, but it sucks because no one reads this story. If you're reading this, mind reviewing? I think my pacing isn't consistent. If you were to confirm that, it would mean a lot to me. Suggestions are always appreciated because after pouring out my heart and mind into this chapter, I'm pretty spent. I don't like writing a lot about Pokémon battles all the leaders have because I think it's pretty irrelevant to this story. Also I imagine Hazelle to look like model Elsa Hosk or Candice Swanpoel... just less plastic I suppose. Valerie is probably Shay Mitchell. Anyways, review, favorite, follow, all that shit is good with me.**

**~Mia. **


	8. Author's Note

**Okay so this isn't a chapter. I wanted to remind y'all that I changed the ending of chapter 7 because I didn't like it. It was hard to think of ideas when Gardenia gave in. So anyways, I changed the chapter so you should reread it. Thank you. Review, favorite, follow, all that shit is good with me.**

**Also, I'm going to reply to the few reviews I got:**

**Guest: Thanks so much! Also drowning in feels. :D**

**Hawpdude: Thanks for the feedback. You really did help me and made me realize that I should change the ending to chapter 7. I basically agree with everything you just said. I prefer constructive criticism than reviews like, "UPDATEEE! LUV UR STORYYY!" Thanks again and I hope you do enjoy my story. :)**

**~Mia**


	9. Chapter 8

The next day, Gardenia lazily sat around her house in the morning, one hour before she was to head to the gym. She wasn't in the mood to be doing so many battles lately, mainly because she was always thinking about Roark. Even though she was cool with Hazelle now, it was as if the simple fact that Roark was taken made it seems as if it was impossible for them to become a couple. He didn't ignore her for his girlfriend like he did when Valerie was around and that made her content about Roark and Hazelle's relationship. But she'd still rather have him holding her hand. And she still cringed whenever they kissed or showed any signs of affection.

The doorbell rang and Gardenia let out a loud groan. She reluctantly got off the couch and proceeded to answering the door. Surprisingly, the person behind the door was none other than her rock-head best friend.

"Roark," Gardenia moaned, rubbing her eyes sleepily, "What are you doing here? I have to be at the gym in an hour."

A smirk spread across her best friend's face, a smirk she knew all too well. It was the smirk he wore on his face whenever he, Gardenia, and/or their friends would screw some shit up.

"Not anymore. I've already talked to your workers, Eterna City gym is closed for today. We have more… ah, exciting matters to deal with now." Roark said, waggling his eyebrows.

"What the hell, dude?!" Gardenia shrieked, punching him in the shoulder not-so playfully, "I never asked for this. I'm damn tired today, so you best leave me alone."

"Whatever, you're coming with me. Go get dressed in something not pink and fluffy." Roark told her, making a face at Gardenia's embarrassingly pink, fluffy robe and bunny slippers.

Gardenia's face turned red when she realized she was still wearing her pajamas in front of Roark. The brunette grass-trainer rushed upstairs to freshen up and change. After taming her bedhead and ridding her mouth of bad breath, she pulled on a pair of skinny jeans and surprisingly, a lime green three-quarter sleeve chiffon blouse. When checking her reflection in the mirror, Gardenia acknowledged that she looked awfully like Hazelle, without the blonde hair, of course.

"Whatever, I have to stop wearing shorts in forty-degree weather anyway…" She muttered to herself and rushed back down the stairs again.

Roark was quickly reading over his texts from Hazelle when he was snapped out of his lovey-dovey trance by Gardenia's boisterous footsteps thunder down the staircase. He stared at her as she descended down, shocked by her outfit choice. It was not usual for her to dress so… well, dressy. She looked almost like Hazelle, minus the blonde hair. The rock-trainer shook his head to release the thoughts of how pretty his best friend looked instead of just gawking at her like an idiot.

"I-I-I like- I mean, what are you wearing, Gards?" Roark sputtered out, his tone suddenly meek. Gardenia rolled her eyes at her best friend's awkwardness.

"Oh, well, I'm starting to get extremely dry skin from the winter weather. And I guess I just thought I needed to vary my clothing choices more." Gardenia replied, tapping her chin in thought, "Maybe I should pick up a curling iron and moisturizer, too…" She trailed off, leaving Roark perplexed at his best friend's abrupt girly behavior.

"Uh, alright then. Since when have you cared about moisturizing?" Gardenia was about to respond before Roark dismissed her comment with his hand, "Whatever. Let's go fuck some shit up."

"Okay, fine with me!" Gardenia grinned mischievously, and began strapping on her brown combat boots, which surprisingly paired well with her outfit.

The two left Gardenia's house laughing about their various inside jokes. The best friends were happy that their friendship wasn't sailing on rocky waters anymore. Well, mostly Roark was. He didn't know the _real_ reason why Gardenia had been so distant to them.

"What the hell is this shit you've been listening too?" Gardenia remarked at the rap radio station playing in Roark's car. Roark stuck his tongue out at her jokingly and switched it to the pop music Gardenia preferred.

"Ooh, I love this song!" Gardenia squealed and proceeded to sing along, "If I was Jay-Z, you'd be my Beyoncé. We could rock the nation like they do! If I was Da Vinci, you'd be Mona Lisa, paint a smile perfectly on you-"

"Godammit, Gards, your singing voice is terrible!" Roark grumbled as he started the car.

"Shut up, rock-head! And If I was James Dean, you could be my Audrey, breakfast at Tiffany's for two…" Gardenia carried along singing out-of-tune joyfully. Roark shook his head, trying to keep his eardrums alive.

"Ah, screw it…" Roark said as the car pulled out of the driveway. He joined in the singing, completely aware that his voice wasn't all that amazing either, "So throw me away, 'cause if I were a boomerang, I'd turn around and come back to you. Back, back to you-u-u-u."

"I knew you'd join in eventually." Gardenia chuckled. Roark pouted at her for a moment, but they maintained belting out the lyrics.

"Hey, I know what we can do to annoy people!" Roark suddenly declared a mischievous, smug look upon his face. He pressed a button on the handle of his car door and both windows rolled down. Gardenia replied with an even louder discordant singing.

Many of the other cars on Eterna City's roads rolled down their windows to check where that awful noise was coming from. Some even considered calling the cops, but backed down when they realized it was two gym leaders. In the middle of their performance, Gardenia and Roark smiled at each other. Their smiles were cheerful and jubilant, the smiles they always wore on their face around each other. They were both crazy and reckless, which was what made them inseparable.

"I missed this." Gardenia said quietly, out of the blue, to rest her vocal chords.

"Me too. Sorry I've been hanging with Hazelle, it's just-"

"I get it. You're paranoid that she might be another Valerie. I get it, Roark I've had a boyfriend before. But I think Hazelle…" Gardenia choked on her words. She didn't want to say what she was about to say.

'_Screw it. Get over him, Gards, you're just friends, and you should be fine with that, shouldn't you?' _A tiny yet scary voice in her mind cackled.

"B-But I think Hazelle…" Gardenia repeated, "May be the one for you."

"Gards, you don't know that. You know what, I like Hazelle, a lot, but we shouldn't talk about her right now. I don't want to make you to feel lonely anymore." Roark stated. The brunette grass-trainer beamed, her cheeks turning a vibrant shade of crimson.

"Thanks, I guess. Hey, I never asked you, what exactly are we screwing up today?" Gardenia asked. That infamous smirk appeared once again on Roark's face.

"Eterna supermarket." He replied. Gardenia widened her eyes, what were they going to do there? Shop for veggies and fruits? Or look at the various soup choices?

"You'll see later." Roark said, acknowledging his best friend's confused face, snickering to himself. Gardenia cast him another incredulous look before just looking out the window.

The car turned into Eterna supermarket, a gigantic two-story complex. The first floor being the regular supermarket and the upper floor some weird, hippie-style organic café, serving vegetarian sandwiches and wheatgrass milkshakes. Yuck, thought Roark, cringing at the thought of a sandwich absent of ham, cheese, or anything delicious. He stopped his car in the first empty parking space and got out of the car with Gardenia at his side.

"Alright, so what we're going to do is have a food fight in the café." Roark said calmly. Gardenia's jaw dropped excitedly and she began jumping up and down while clapping her hands.

"I love food fights! Roark, you are a freaking genius! How come we never thought of this before?!" Gardenia shouted, causing some people in the parking a lot to stare. Nevertheless, the grass-trainer threw her arms around her best friend.

Roark wrapped his arms around Gardenia's slender form, closing his eyes and savoring the sparks going off in his heart for a while.

Wait, sparks?

Roark snapped back to reality and gently pushed Gardenia back. For a moment, he felt terrible when he noticed a flash of hurt in her eyes.

"Sorry, uh, I was just kind of, uh, excited to do the food fight." Roark stammered. Unexpectedly, Gardenia flashed a bright smile across her face, as if the memories of the awkward moment vanished.

"Yeah, me too! Now come on, charcoal arms!" Gardenia galloped off into the supermarket, Roark followed, jogging.

The automatic doors welcomed the pair into the bustling, noisy supermarket. Gardenia and Roark grinned at each other, both super excited to be having extravagant misadventures together again. Just as they were about to rush up the stairs to the café, a familiar voice rang out.

"Gardenia, Roark! Hey!" The voice of Hazelle James called. Roark whipped his head around stopping abruptly on the fourth step.

A wide smile spread across his face as the rock-trainer's blonde girlfriend ran over to them, clad in a pair of pink sneakers, yoga pants, and a baggy, burgundy sweatshirt. Hazelle's glossy blonde hair was sloppily tied into a high ponytail, with a hot pink headband holding loose strands back. Somehow, to Roark, Hazelle's casual and just-rolled-out-of-bed appearance made her seem even more stunning.

"Goddammit, does she have to be everywhere?" Gardenia muttered. Nowadays, she was usually fine with Hazelle tagging along, but now she just kind of ruined the best-friends-of-three-years-having-crazy-misadvent ures mood.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Hazelle. I missed you!" Roark said as he descended down the staircase to lightly kiss his girlfriend on the forehead.

"You saw her yesterday, didn't you?" Gardenia laughed, her tone cold, finished off with an icing of fake sweetness, "Why are you here in Eterna, anyways, Hazelle?"

"Oh, I was just stopping by to pick up this exotic facial cleanser that's supposed to do _wonders_ for your skin!" Hazelle replied obliviously, holding a lime green tube of cleanser up, "It smells amazing, too!"

"Oh, wow. Well, Roark and I should get going we have to-"

"Hazelle, why don't you help us with the food fight? It'll be fun, my two favorite people by my side!" Roark suggested, cutting an internally screaming Gardenia off.

"Sure! That's sounds super cool, although I've never been in a food fight. I don't particularly like getting messy." Hazelle giggled flirtatiously at Roark as if it was some inside joke, "But since I'm not really wearing anything nice, I guess it would be okay!"

"You're so cute." Roark commented, throwing his arm Hazelle's shoulder.

'_Ugh, a couple's early stages. Are all of them always like this?'_ Gardenia thought and rolling her eyes and shaking her head in sync.

"Alright then," She said, containing her indignation, "Follow me then, lovebirds."

The group ascended up the staircase, which led them to the cafeteria. It was already 11:30, so people were making beelines to the food. Hazelle and Roark chatted away, while Gardenia silently led them to the long line of people waiting for food.

"So, Roark, I never asked, but how long have you and Gardenia been friends?" Hazelle suddenly asked.

"For three years. Been my best friend ever since. I guess we just clicked after we watched that _Super Machamp_ movie." Roark replied. Gardenia's heart warmed at the mention of the first movie she and Roark watched together (as new friends, of course).

"Sounds nice, it's just like our first date, isn't it?" Hazelle said, her chin resting on one of Roark's broad shoulder. Her boyfriend grinned at her and leaned his head against the top of hers.

'_Arceus, you two just got together and you're already recalling your first date. Talk about mushy!' _Gardenia mentally spat. Hazelle and Roark's romantic behavior was becoming more annoying by the minute. But she slapped on a sweet smile, and once again contained the volcano about to explode inside her.

"Hazelle, I never asked you, but is Roark your first boyfriend?" Gardenia questioned. She tried to tell herself that she was just wondering, but she knew in her heart that she simply wanted dirt on Hazelle. Hazelle's pleasant demeanor changed and her face grew stiff and sullen.

"N-No, I-I-I…" Hazelle stuttered, her confidence slowly decreasing, "dated some other people, of course. I guess Roark is… one of the rare ones I actually really liked."

"Oh, so you only dated them for fun?" Gardenia concluded, her sugary tone long gone, replaced by such a bland and assuming tone that it was a little spiteful.

Hazelle fell silent, her cheerful smile replaced with a tight line in her lips. Roark removed his head from hers, now facing his girlfriend with an extremely concerned expression. Gardenia suddenly felt guilty for letting her short-temperedness, jealousy, and annoyance take over her words. Her small friendship with Hazelle was probably thrown out the window now. Roark was also most likely angry with her, which made the guilt even worse.

"I'm sorry, Hazelle." Gardenia croaked, surprising even her, "I was a little nosy and curious. I'm really sorry about that. Seriously, I didn't mean to make you sad."

"It's alright!" Hazelle surprisingly exclaimed, her face lively and jubilant once again, "Anyways, I think you two definitely deserve to know the truth, especially you Roark."

"Wait, what? Is this is some sort of dark secret?" Roark asked, his eyes blazing with curiosity.

"No, no, it's just something I did when I was younger that I totally regret. I was a rebel when I was younger, all punk rock wannabe and all. I went to parties, got drunk, disobeyed my parents, went out with guys I barely knew, and repeated the cycle." Hazelle paused for a moment to study her boyfriend and his best friend's utter shock, "One day, my parents finally got sick of me and sent me to peaceful Pastoria to live by myself. I continued my party girl attitude for a while until I realized everyone was sick of my attitude. It- It hurt to know that no one was sticking by my side. That's when I turned my life around and became a Pokémon trainer. I cleaned myself up, lost the 'I-don't-give-a-fuck' attitude, and I became a regular girl. But my parents still haven't contacted me after a year."

"Wow, Hazelle, I-I-I had no idea." Gardenia responded sincerely. She really did feel bad for Hazelle, and was mentally beating herself up for being so cruel. But she couldn't help but still be a bit envious.

"Hey, it's alright. You're you now, aren't you? You're beautiful, amazing, smart, and well, look I had a crush on you since I met you. The point is, damn, I'm really bad with words; this is you now, Hazelle. Be proud of it." Roark said, patting Hazelle's shoulder affectionately. The sulking blonde pressed her lips to Roark's, and for once, Gardenia didn't mind… slightly.

She still wanted Roark to herself, no matter how selfish it sounded.

"Hey, can you two cut it, er- out?" Gardenia asked awkwardly as she realized one of the food servers glared at her friends, "We're at the front of the line already."

"Oh, sorry, um… Roark, what are we getting?" Hazelle asked, her face bright red and flustered. Roark rubbed her shoulder as if to say, "Relax, babe"

"We'll take ten tomato and basil panninis, six vegetable sandwiches, three potato pancakes, five bowls of brown rice, four garden salads, seven sugar-free cherry pies, and… one of each of all your juice selections, oh, and also the sandwich with the most meat in it." Roark ordered shamelessly.

"That is going to be one huge shit." Gardenia muttered to Hazelle, sending the blonde into hysterical giggles, "What's the organic meat lovers sandwich for?"

"Uh, for me, Gards." Roark replied in a "duh" tone, a smirk etched upon his face.

The food server glared at the trio, but reluctantly repeated the order to his cooks. Once the food arrived, which took roughly half an hour, it took three trips to transfer the food to one table.

"Okay, who's going first? If you girls aren't brave enough, I'll happily start." Roark said, triumphantly gazing at the piles and piles of "ammo".

"Fine, go ahead- Ah!" Gardenia shrieked as Roark fired a mushy potato pancake directly at her face. After Gardenia rid the gooey pancake off her face, which left a layer of oil on her cheeks (despite the healthy vibe of the café) she threw a slice of cherry pie at Roark's face.

"Oh, let's do this, tree trunk legs!" Roark shouted, starting a reckless food fight between him and Gardenia.

Hazelle eventually joined in, throwing all her concerns of getting messy out the window. Eventually, someone misfired (aka Roark) and hit a spectator in the face. The spectator stood up furiously and wildly chucked some of his mashed potatoes at Roark.

"Food fight!" A random kid yelled. He joined in, throwing some of his meal at his own brother

The food fight was amazing, and even that was an understatement. It was the first time Gardenia had so much fun in quite a while, bar the drunken, crazed trip to Veilstone. She recalled how fun it was to have a genuine good time with friends. By the time, the kitchen staff (who had also joined in on the fight) ran out of food, everyone was caked and covered in various organic meals, respectively.

The things that happen In Eterna City…

**Fuck this was a failed chapter (mostly the ending) but I think Gardenia deserved some happiness. Also, did you see Hazelle's secret coming? Well, anyways, I'm planning on making this story less than 18 chapters, at the most 20. School is starting soon for me, and I don't think I'll have so much time to write anymore. But I can try, ya know. So to finish up, review, follow, favorite, all that shit is good with me.**

**P.S. Give me suggestions.**

**~Mia**


	10. Chapter 9

Following the food fight, Gardenia left Hazelle and Roark so she could reopen the gym and face some challengers. After Gardenia had sped out of the parking lot (stealing Roark's car, not that it was the first time), Hazelle turned to her new boyfriend, face covered in fruit juices and slimy vegetables. The blonde picked Roark's callused hands up, staring into his eyes intently.

"Gardenia's a fun person to be around. Crazy and loud, but one of the funniest people I've ever met." Hazelle said. Roark silently chuckled, Hazelle was right, Gardenia was one of the most care-free and fun people to be around.

"You're right, I've only known her for three years, yet I feel like I've known her for my whole life." Roark said, letting out a small laugh escape his lips afterwards.

"Have you ever… dated her?" Hazelle asked him gingerly. She tilted her heart-shaped face, letting her tangled ponytail swish to the side.

"No, of course not… I mean, she's my best friend and all, but th-that's all I think of her." Roark answered, appearing nonchalant, when he really was feeling quite awkward about this question. He shuffled the thoughts rampaging in his mind away about Hazelle's sudden curiosity and leaned into press his lips onto hers.

"Good, because that would make things quite…" Hazelle was cut off by a pair of lips upon hers.

She savored the taste she already loved so much that was Roark's lips on hers. Hazelle kissed back fervently, snaking her arms around Roark's neck, although her mind was swarming with curiosity. The young blonde always wondered how friendships like Gardenia and Roark lasted so long and never got tired of one another. But she really did like Roark and wanted their relationship to last, even though they got together in a somewhat rushed fashion. The kiss was passionate and smooth, even though both faces were messily caked in various food substances. However, like most good things, they were interrupted.

"Buzz. Buzz." A sound erupted from Roark's sweatshirt pocket, causing the new couple to break apart in surprise.

"Dammit, Volkner, is that you again?" Roark grumbled, his hands fumbling as they plunged into his hoodie's pocket. The electric trainer had been constantly texting/teasing Roark about his new relationship with Hazelle.

"Is it him? What did he say?" Hazelle inquired, standing on her tippy toes to see the cellphone's screen.

"Oh, it's my dad. Strange, he never texts me, just barges into my house randomly." Roark said. He knitted his dark brown eyebrows together, puzzled as to why his dad, who should have been working at his gym now was requesting for his son to visit him.

"Um, he wants me to visit him." Roark said, glancing up at Hazelle, "And bring you."

"Well, he can't possibly want to meet me, I mean, he already knows who I am." Hazelle pointed out.

"I think we should go anyways. An angry Dad is not something I want chasing after me." Roark joked. Hazelle grinned back, leading her boyfriend to her car.

* * *

After a quick stop at Oreburgh to refresh themselves from the icky food, the couple drove to Canalave City, which was quite a long distance, mind you. But Hazelle and Roark chatted the time away, enjoying the early couple cuteness.

"So, what do you think your dad wants with us?" Hazelle asked; breaking the conversation about the many dislikes and likes they both shared.

"I don't know, probably going to take some pictures of us, dance around the house singing about how proud he is of me, and then he'll invite us to stay for dinner, even though his cooking is usually awful." Roark said, recalling the time when his father invited he and Valerie for dinner.

"Wow, sounds like you and your father have a great relationship." Hazelle commented, forcing a smile. She remembered how great her relationship was with her family, right up until she started the rebellious party girl phase.

"Well, not all the time. A couple years ago, he told me he wanted me to visit him, since he began living in Canalave and my mom and I still lived in Oreburgh. But when I got there, I saw him with Fantina, the gym leader in Hearthrome. He told me..." Roark paused, his words choking up in his throat. Why was he becoming so emotional and dramatic lately? It wasn't like he was a girl on her "time of the month"

"…He told me he didn't love my mom anymore. He said he stopped loving her a long time and he only stayed with her because of me. I realized that he had been cheating on my mom with Fantina for… well, a while. It was hard for me take in. I was so angry, I called him 'a fucking man-whore who doesn't deserve shit and should go kill himself'. Now, I can't believe I said that to my own father; it's a miracle he still doesn't hate me for that. Anyways, that- that was the day I met Gardenia at the Canalave library. She kept me sane, I guess. Since she was already a gym leader then, Gards introduced me to all her friends. I didn't speak to my dad until four months later and only because of Gards." Roark said. He was shocked at how much of an influence Gardenia had been on his life. If he hadn't met her, he'd probably still have an ice cold relationship with his dad.

"Wow, Gardenia seems to be very important to you, Roark." Hazelle said, her demeanor morphing from sweet and happy to envious. The now jealous blonde knew her relationship with Roark was secure now, but she was skeptical about if Gardenia really was "just a friend".

"Hazelle," Roark suddenly let out a burst of laughter, "even though I've only been with you for three days, I feel like I can read you like a book. Gards is only my crazy best friend and only that, okay?"

"Alright, I believe you." Hazelle said, sticking her pale pink tongue out her boyfriend teasingly.

Roark tuned out as Hazelle began blabbering about her shopping trip with Candice and Cynthia. He really did like Hazelle; she was both beautiful on the inside and outside. But he had to admit, she was a little boring at time, talking about clothes and dressing her Pokémon up for battles and a little too materialistic. Who the hell puts bows on a Gastrodon meant to kick ass?

"Roark, Roark! You just crashed into a bush!" Hazelle shrieked, finally ceasing her debate with herself on whether or not to get highlights.

"Oh, we must be here." Roark said blandly, looking up at the bush that greeted his car every time he visited his father. He had this strange habit of crashing into a random plant that decorated his father's yard, probably thanks to his horrific driving skills.

"Oh my God, I seriously love how bad you're driving is." Hazelle giggled as she and Roark stepped out of the car.

They walked to Byron's house hand in hand and after ringing the doorbell, Byron soon burst through the door with a pair of oven mitts shielding his hands. Hazelle almost burst out laughing at the sight, as Roark's dad was definitely not the type to look flattering in polka dotted oven mitts.

"Roarky! Hazelle! Good to have you here! How are my favorite son and his… brand new girlfriend?" Byron squealed like a child getting candy for his birthday. Hazelle offered a kind smile, while Roark simply rolled his eyes at his father's typical behavior.

"Dad, I think you've forgotten once again that I am your only son." Roark said bluntly, faking being bored to death, until grinning and engulfing his dad in a hug. Sure, he and his dad often fought, but they never stopped loving each other.

"Aw! I will never forget how cute the Tanner family is." Hazelle cooed, lacing her hands together and leaning her cheek against them.

"Well, this reunion has been lovely, but I really ought to understand how you and Hazelle got together, Son." Byron said, escorting Hazelle and Roark inside his house.

Hazelle and Roark to a seat beside each other on a long, tan-colored couch with colorful satin pillows scattered around it in the living room. Byron immediately began firing questions about the young couple's relationship. The steel-trainer was thrilled that his son had a proper girlfriend, one with actual intelligence this time around. But he was also concerned about how fast the relationship happened, as were most of Hazelle and Roark's friends, even though they didn't show it.

"I'll be going to the restroom. Be right back." Hazelle said. She had already been to Byron's house when Crasher Wake introduced the two.

An awkward silence soon cursed the living room-kitchen space, the father and son silent after Hazelle left. Byron was the first to break the quiet atmosphere, finally outing something that has been on his mind for a while.

"Roark, are you aware of how many times a day you close the gym down a week?" Byron questioned his son. Roark was taken aback by the question, obviously expecting some silly question, such as how he and Hazelle's first kiss had been.

"Er, no… I don't think I close it down all that much though-"

"Well, you do, son." Byron cut him off, his tone sharp as knives now. Like most fathers would be, he was annoyed at his son's irresponsibility, "And let me tell you, I could easily take you out of the gym and replace you with Riley."

Roark was suddenly angry; the happy family reunion with his new girlfriend by his side had turned dark. The rock-trainer was extremely irritated by his father's behavior. So what if he didn't go to work some days of the week? He wasn't an old man like his father, committed to work. He had other things to do in life rather than battle a bunch of children.

"Riley, Riley, Riley, that's all you care about. Let me guess, you only wanted Hazelle and I to come here so you could embarrass me in front of her? You know what; I don't even care if Riley takes my position. I don't even care about that stupid gym." Roark snapped, tired of how his father's "concerns" had to ruin every supposedly happy visit.

"Roark, you don't mean that."

"I damn well do! You think I want to pretend that Cranidos only knows pursuit and headbutt? Or that Geodude only knows defense curl and tackle? It's not fair that I have to make these battles easier for these stupid kids just for the sake of giving them a badge!"

The words echoed in the air as Byron stared at his son. His son, that he tried so hard to protect and love for so long, but he always ended up being shoved away. The steel-trainer knew how his son felt and was only trying to the best for him, so he would always have this secure position as a gym leader.

"Look, Roark, I'm not trying to embarrass you in front of Hazelle nor am I trying to be a party pooper, but you know I just want to make it all up to you. But you can't close the gym every other day for your own benefit. Don't think I don't know what happened in Veilstone. Sleeping with your best friend was a terrible, immoral thing to do." Byron said sternly. Roark wore a shocked expression on his face; obviously he didn't know that his father knew about all the partying he did with his friend.

"I said I was sorry. I seriously begged for her forgiveness. You know Gardenia, she shrugs problems off. She even told me it wasn't a big deal because she doesn't have a crush on anyone." Roark snapped back. He hated how insensitive his response sounded, but it was the truth. Gardenia did tell him relationships weren't for her. She was an independent, happy-go-lucky person.

_Usually_.

The bathroom door suddenly creaked up, just when Byron was about to fire a responsible, stern fatherly response back. Not one to scold his son in front of an audience, the steel-trainer closed his mouth and quoted something smart.

"Everything is not what it seems." He chimed, forcing a smile upon his face as Hazelle walked back onto the scene.

"What took you so long?" Roark grumbled, his mood meter still not back at its former high level, even when Hazelle graced the room with her presence.

"Oh girl stuff, you know, fixing my mascara and lipstick." Hazelle replied. After she sat down, she leaned her head on Roark's shoulder, placing a soft kiss on the bottom of his cheek.

"Oh."

Hazelle was always a curious person, and thanks to that personality trait she had since birth, she knew something had gone seriously wrong in the five minutes she was absent. Byron would normally be chattering away, but had now intrigued himself in constantly checking the chicken that was baking. Roark just radiated his sudden moody demeanor, never one to shield negative feelings.

"Hey, Roark, what's wr-".

"Dinner's ready! We have a delicious herb baked chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and iced tea for our meal!" Byron sing-songed, his tone jolly and elated.

Hazelle didn't bother to repeat her sentence. Maybe nothing interesting happened when she was gone anyways.


	11. Chapter 10

"So, let me get this straight, you got into a food fight with Roark, who you slept with and like, and Hazelle, who is suddenly not totally all that bad to you. Geez, Gards, you just decided to confess this?" Cynthia Armstrong repeated, holding her sleek black smart phone to her ear.

"Well, I thought you assumed that I've like-liked Roark for a while and that I hated Hazelle since the day I met her until today." Gardenia said as she kicked her feet in the air while lazily stretching out on her sofa.

"Alright then. Why me, though? Why not Candice?"

Gardenia had just finished spilling all that was on her mind to Cynthia, even though Candice was usually her primary choice for dramatic secret-spilling. She thought to herself, _"Why _didn't_ I choose Candice?" _Before she forgot. Candice adored Hazelle much, much more than Cynthia did. She could easily hiss Gardenia's secret out. Besides, Candice wouldn't understand the "pain and sorrow of unrequited love", she liked Volkner and they flirted 24/7. It was a wonder how they weren't dating yet.

"Well, well- I just figured, you know, you wouldn't squeal and shriek and make paper dolls of Hazelle and I and have them fight over a paper doll Roark." Gardenia replied.

On the other line, Cynthia nodded understandingly, stifling giggles, "Fair enough, anyways, back to the point, so you and Roark slept together, right? While drunk, you know."

"Correct."

"And now you're worried because…? You've already apologized only a million times to each other and you're getting into those misadventures again."

"Well, obviously I don't want Hazelle to find out and think Roark is cheating on her already with me-"

"Yo! Ivy Ass is on the line? Cynth, why didn't you tell me?! Gards hasn't spoken to me in a whole week!" A deep, totally not Cynthia-like voice rumbled through the line.

Dear Arceus, it was Flint, who Gardenia hadn't said a word to since "the day". Yes, that totally explosive, dramatic day fit for a soap opera.

"Fuck off, Charcoal Head; you know why I don't like you now." Gardenia sneered, breaking her commitment to give Flint the silent treatment until he begged for her forgiveness.

"Wha- What did I do? I didn't do anything!" Flint screamed into the phone. Gardenia silently chuckled as she heard Flint and Cynthia wrestle for the phone. The two would make a hilarious, yet amazingly adorable couple.

"And Flint dominates again! In more ways than one… heh, heh… Back to the point, Gards, why you so mad at me, girl?" Flint asked. Cynthia was easily heard in the background, screaming insults and obscenities.

"Why do you want to know?" Gardenia said with a huff.

"Because I don't like people mad at me."

"Well, then think before you fake sympathy for others and then tell the person they like that they like you instead!" Gardenia snapped. She wasn't going to handle a "Because I want to… Why do you want to?" battle with Flint. Better just let him apologize now.

"What? I did no such thing! I swear to Arceus!" Flint said. On the other line, the fire-trainer wore a genuinely shocked expression on his face, while a confused Cynthia started pressing her ear to the phone.

"Are you sure? Well, explain why Roark thinks I'm in love with you now."

"Um, I kind of angrily told him to say sorry to you for sleeping with you. He probably misunderstood again, you know how he is; jumps to conclusions constantly." In the background, Cynthia was once again heard without any trouble screeching furiously about how Flint knew about Gardenia's "deep, dark secret" before her.

"Flint, you never listen! I told you not to say anything!" Gardenia whined, rising from the couch and stomping her foot on the carpet with irritancy.

"Sorry, I just can't have my friends who have been BFF's for so long fight! I thought I was doing the right thing, but obviously not." Flint said, the sentence ending in a bitter snap. Gardenia was taken aback by this; she thought she had the upper-hand now, with a begging Flint about to apologize

"Just fucking apologize now, ok? I can't stand fighting with you. " Gardenia told Flint, her tone soft and more forgiving now, despite the curse word thrown in.

"Fine, Gards, I'm sorry for telling Roark what you said to me and I'll never do it again without your permission." Flint apologized, his words dry and unfeeling. Once again, Cynthia could be heard rolling on the floor, cackling hysterically.

"Fair enough. Bye now, Flint. Give the phone back to Cynthia, now." Gardenia droned, rolling her caramel-colored eyes.

Back in Solaceon Town, Cynthia snatched her smart phone from Flint who soon dashed away. The blonde, dressed in black pants and a grey sweater, rolled over on her soft, navy blue bed, the cool metal of her black phone against her ear.

"Why was that moron here, anyways? You guys can't hold a conversation without slapping the other silly." Gardenia chuckled as Cynthia returned to the line.

"We had a training session before-" However, the Pokémon champion of Sinnoh was soon interrupted by a loud, barking laugh from Gardenia.

"Oh, my goodness! The way you say it, though, it sounds so dirty! Oh my Arceus, I'm dying!" The brunette laughed so loudly, her Pokémon, who were playing in the yard like usual, poked their heads back into their trainer's house curiously.

"God, Gards, I thought you got stabbed in the back temporarily."

"But seriously, you two would make the cutest couple ever." Gardenia commented through hiccups of giggles.

"No way, Gards!" Cynthia shouted into the phone furiously, her cheeks growing warm, "Anyways, that brings back to the point… What was I going to say? Ah, you're scared Hazelle will think you and Roark are like… secret lovers."

"What are we? Back to the Shakespeare era? God… Well, I guess so. I mean, I already think she does. Beopre, she was super sweet with me, like she is to all of you, and now… I don't know she treats me normal now I guess. I suppose I offended her when I went all 'evil sugar sweet' with her or maybe she already suspects it." Gardenia said, recalling when Hazelle confessed about her rebellious teenage-hood.

"Evil sugar sweet? We'll discuss that later. So, what you're trying to say is, you think Hazelle thinks Roark is _already_ cheating on her with you, and you think it will turn super awkward because you've liked him for three years now?" Cynthia guessed. Girl talk always consisted of super long sentences.

"Correct."

"Well, then you're screwed, girl, because I've never been a situation like that. Maybe you should ask Candice-"

"No," Gardenia cut her off sternly, "I mean, it's just- You know what, screw it. I'm over thinking this whole situation, trying to read Hazelle's mind and stuff. I should just accept that I made a new friend today. You know, be happy and stuff. Thanks, and bye, Cynthia."

"Bye, Gards. Love you, girl."

_Be happy my ass_.

As the phone call ended, Gardenia angrily threw her phone onto the couch opposite from her. What a mistake to tell Cynthia about her crush on Roark, and she didn't even give her a solution to her self-proclaimed dilemma (which was totally unlike wise Cynthia in the first place).

The grass trainer laid on her back, staring at her creamy white ceiling. Maybe she was over-thinking things. Maybe she really wasn't a big player in the Hazelle and Roark relationship. She could sense that their relationship wasn't going to end soon, so maybe she should just go with flow, something Gardenia Rosewood always had a hard time doing. She was always used to causing a wave or drowning in it all.

* * *

All the way in Canalave city, Roark and Hazelle walked out of Roark's dad's house, hand in hand. Nothing but glances exchanged by the couple. Hazelle couldn't help but revert her mind back to when she walked back into the family room and there was just an awful, awkward tension cursing the air.

"Roark, before the dinner was ready, I was going to ask you what happened while I was gone. Maybe it's just my wild imagination telling me this, but did you and your dad get into a fight?" Hazelle asked. The question made Roark stop straight in the driveway, pondering on if he should tell Hazelle or not.

"Hazelle, it's really none of your business." Roark grumbled his tone cold and bitter, something Hazelle wasn't used to.

"I want to know, though. Maybe I could help resolve this in some way." Hazelle said persistently.

"You can't do anything, Hazelle, ok?" Roark snapped. Hazelle hung her head sadly, recoiling. At the sight of this, Roark comfortingly placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry. I was just angry. What I meant to say was, don't worry about it. I can solve it myself."

"But when Gardenia tries to help you, you let her." Hazelle said. Her lips formed a tight, straight line. Roark stared at his new girlfriend in disbelief, slightly disgusted at the fact that she was already becoming jealous in less than a week.

"For the last fucking time, Hazelle, I don't like Gards. She's my best friend, and that's all she'll ever fucking be." Roark stated irritably, "Ok? You're the one I like."

Hazelle softened. She hated when comebacks rolled off the tip of her tongue, "I'm sorry, Roark. Forgive me, please." The blonde's usually shoved-off cunning section of her mind activated, "Prove to me you don't like Gardenia, though. This might sound weird but, tell her to her face that you don't have any feelings for her. I need to know, Roark, for our relationship to work out. I get jealous so easily."

"That's cruel, Hazelle." Roark said bluntly. The two were still in the driveway, now bickering, unlike when they first arrived, oblivious and jubilant

Hazelle blushed, knowing that if she pushed further she and Roark could set the record for shortest official relationship ever and soon let out a laugh, "I'm just joking, Roark. That would be so evil villain of me, like in mainstream chick flick movies."

The blonde swooped up, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend's neck in the process, and pressed her raspberry colored lips to his. The kiss was a passionate, screw-what-just-happened kind of kiss, Roark kissing Hazelle back with just as much intensity. Fingers crept up on the back of Roark's neck weaving into his maroon hair, and making him turn beet red. Tongues soon found their way into the situation. Byron was lucky he decided to go right to bed after the dinner.

"And this is how we make up, huh?" Roark said breathlessly after minutes that felt more like hours. Warm foreheads pressed against each other, and from a distance it looked like a scene in a typical romance movie.

"Suppose so." Hazelle said before yawning. "We should get home."

"You can stay over at my place if you want. Pastoria's a hell of a long drive from here." Roark offered, making sure to use a serious tone so Hazelle wouldn't get the wrong ide.

"Sure. I'll take the couch."

"No, I'm taking tobviously I get the couch."

"Nope, I am."

"I- Oh, whatever, fine you get the couch."

Roark snickered at how easy Hazelle gave in, she was much easier to convince than Gardenia, as he and Hazelle got into her car. Speaking of Gardenia, Hazelle couldn't possibly be jealous of her. Roark had been friends with her for a long time, but it didn't mean he liked her. He'd been friends with Candice and Cynthia for a whilehe couch." Roark argued.

"I'm the guest, too, but she never brought them up. Strange.

The drive back to Oreburgh was tranquil and peaceful. Due to the dim light of night, Hazelle's head rested against her seatbelt and slowly drifted down. Roark glanced at his marvelous new girlfriend sleeping and smiled to himself. He really did consider himself lucky.

Although, the spark that used to explode like a firework was about to slowly simmer down, even if Hazelle and Roark didn't suspect it.

* * *

**AN: Been a long time since I came around, been a long time but I'm back in time. Sorry for not updating in like a month! Anyways, whaddup, it me, Mia. I'm enjoying this story so far. What are your thoughts about it? Review, follow, favorite, all that shit is good with me.**


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